daytrading jan 17 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees.

Market wrap:

Shares are likely to open little changed after a bullish night for the big miners offset declines on Wall Street as corporate earnings disappointed.

The March SPI 200 futures contract ended the night session two points or less than 0.1% lower at 5269 as Citigroup upgraded its outlook for mining stocks, citing BHP and Rio Tinto among its top picks. The news helped both stocks advance at least 2.8% in US trade. More below.

The S&P 500 fell two points or 0.13% after quarterly earnings from Best Buy, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup missed targets. The Dow lost 65 points or 0.39% and the Nasdaq bucked the trend with a rise of 0.1%.

Financials were the worst of the industry groups, falling 0.7% as soft results from Goldman and Citigroup undermined enthusiasm this week over earnings "beats" from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

"This group is very tied to the economy, and it makes it difficult to argue that we could see a higher GDP ahead, given these," Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners in the US, told Reuters. "The earnings picture, along with some recent data, suggests we haven't made it out of the very slow growth rate that we've been seeing."

Jobless claims fell to a six-week low last week, down 2,000 to 326,000. The reading soothed concerns over volatile numbers in recent weeks. Consumer prices increased 0.3% last month.

BHP and Rio Tinto were boosted by news that Citigroup had raised its outlook on the mining sector to bullish for the first time in three years. BHP rallied 2.83% in US trade and Rio Tinto put on 3.59%. Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday declined $1.30 to US$128.30 a dry tonne.

"Investor sentiment has hit rock bottom. The mining sector has moved through five stages of grief, namely Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and now we think we are in Acceptance that the sector has moved into a new norm," lead Citigroup analyst Heath Jansen wrote in a note quoted on MarketWatch.

Nickel rallied for a fifth straight session, reaching its highest level since early November. In London, aluminium rose 0.6%, lead 0.5%, nickel 0.2% and zinc 0.1%. Copper slipped 0.2% and tin less than 0.1%. US copper for March delivery was recently down 0.5% or nearly two cents at US$3.34 a pound.

A soft night for the US dollar helped gold rally for the first time in three sessions. Gold for February delivery was lately up $3.40 or 0.3% at US$1,241.90 an ounce after settling at US$1,241.80.

Oil was little changed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for February delivery was recently down four cents or less than 0.1% at US$94.13 after settling at US$93.96.

European stocks slipped from six-year highs as the downbeat mood on Wall Street infected trade. The Stoxx Europe 600 index eased 0.16% as Germany's DAX lost 0.16%, France's CAC 0.3% and Britain's FTSE 0.07%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

TWO-SPEED MARKET? Citigroup has added its voice to those who suspect that sentiment towards resource stocks cannot get any gloomier, so a bottom is likely in. That should ensure some support for mining stocks today. However, there is also a growing group of analysts/commentators who believe a broader market correction is looming, given Wall Street's virtually unbroken rise since late 2011. (The ASX's journey has been much choppier.) I am inclined to think the market is due a good spanking one of these months, but you can lose a lot of money pre-empting a downturn, given markets' tendency to overshoot in both directions. We are not quite at the "taxi driver share tip" stage of a rally that usually marks a top. When friends with no interest in the share market start giving you tips, that's the time to head for the exits.

ECONOMIC NEWS: No significant domestic news scheduled today. US highlights tonight include building permits, preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectations, job openings, housing starts, industrial production and capacity utilisation rate.

Good luck to all.