daytrading march 14 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees.

Market wrap:

The share market is likely to open more than 1% lower after tensions in Ukraine and further evidence of a slowdown in China drove US and European stocks to sharp falls.

The March SPI 200 futures contract dived 58 points or 1.1% to 5355 as US indexes dropped through technical support levels as international concerns overshadowed upbeat domestic data.

The S&P 500 fell 22 points or 1.19%, erasing its gains for the year as it closed below the psychologically-significant 1,850 level at 1,846. The Dow broke below its 50-day moving average en route to a loss of 231 points or 1.41%, its biggest fall in five weeks. The Nasdaq swooned 63 points or 1.46%.

"People have certainly moved on to worrying about global issues and a lot less about domestic ones," Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial in the US, told Bloomberg. "The market is clearly focused on the Ukraine situation today, which could further contribute to volatility tomorrow. The story of this year has been volatility, and that's marked a very different investing environment."

China's February economic update, announced shortly after the close of Australian trade yesterday, was much weaker than economists expected. Industrial output rose 8.6% from a year earlier, versus economists' expectations for a 9.5% gain. Retail sales were up 11.8%, versus a forecast 13.5% rise. Fixed-asset investment improved 17.9%, versus an anticipated 19.3% increase.

"The fairly dramatic slowdown is unusual in Chinese economic history of the last decade," Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong, said in a note quoted on Bloomberg that described the data as "shockingly weak". "It points to a major deceleration of momentum in the beginning of 2014."

The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 1.05% as Germany's DAX tanked 1.86%, France's CAC 1.21% and Britain's FTSE 1.01%.

Worries over the stand-off in Ukraine also occupied minds as US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Europe and the US will not recognise this weekend's secession referendum in the Crimea. Kerry told the Senate the US will take "very serious" action if the crisis is not resolved.

Positive domestic news made little impact. Retail sales increased a seasonally-adjusted 0.3% last month, the first improvement in three months. First-time claims for jobless benefits fell 9,000 to a three-month low of 315,000 last week.

Cyclical stocks bore the brunt of the selling. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index lost 1.57%.

A third day of gains in the price of iron ore helped cushion Australia's biggest miners. BHP edged up 0.08% in US trade and Rio Tinto lost 2.25% as spot iron ore for import to China rose $4.10 to US$111.50 a dry tonne.

Most base metals resumed declines as the Chinese data dampened demand expectations. US copper for March delivery was recently down 1.3% or four cents at US$2.92 a pound. In London, copper dropped 1.4%, aluminium 2.1%, lead 0.7%, tin 0.1% and zinc 0.3%. Nickel rose 0.58%.

Gold edged to a fourth straight gain as part of a broader 'flight to safety'. Gold for April delivery was recently ahead $1.80 or 0.1% at US$1,372.30 an ounce after settling at US$1,372.40.

Oil steadied overnight after suffering its biggest decline in two months on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for April delivery was lately up 28 cents or 0.3% at US$98.27 a barrel after settling at US$98.20.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

DOWN WE GO: Until last night, Wall Street had been remarkably resilient in the face of geopolitical risk in the Crimea and growing evidence that the Chinese economic powerhouse is losing momentum. After last night, a genuine retrace now appears likely, subject to how events play out in Ukraine over the next week. Copper copped it again from the Chinese data, but the bounce in iron ore is almost as violent as the drop. Gold remains a rare bright spot, with the HUI rising another 3.14% overnight despite the carnage elsewhere.

ECONOMIC NEWS: No significant domestic news scheduled today. Europe has employment data scheduled tonight. US highlights include the producer price index/core PPI and preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.

Good luck to all.