Daytrading May 4 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.

Market wrap:

A strong end to a losing week on Wall Street points to a bright open to Australian share trade this morning.

The June SPI 200 futures contract rallied 34 points or 0.6% to 5833 as US stocks rebounded from Thursday's two-week low. BHP and Rio Tinto made solid gains as copper marked its highest level of the year and the basic materials sector led the advance in the US.

A partial recovery in the week's worst-performing stocks helped the S&P 500 rise 22 points or 1.08% on Friday, paring its decline for the week to 0.44%. The Dow gained 183 points or 1.03% for a weekly deficit of 0.31%. The Nasdaq recouped 64 points or 1.29% but still ended the week 1.7% in the red.

The new month began with reversals in the stocks that accounted for much of the week's downward bias. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index bounced 2.86%, the Russell 2000 index of small caps 0.7% and market heavyweight Apple 3.04%.

“This week felt like an unwinding of a lot of big trading positions that had been on for months and that had been extremely successful,” David Heidel, regional investment director for US Bank, told Bloomberg. “This is a rebound from the tough days we had earlier this week. People are taking a look at potential bargains.”

"We're just having a bounce from a rough week," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group in the US, told CNBC. "It's the first day of the month. There's no real news."

The night's economic data mostly fell short of expectations. April vehicle sales were 4.6% stronger than a year ago but down on March and shy of economists' predictions at an annual rate of 16.45 million, versus 16.9 million. Rival manufacturing gauges also missed the target - Markit's April purchasing managers' index weakened to 54.1 from 55.7 in March and the ISM index was flat at 51.5% when economists tipped an improvement to 52.2%. Construction spending declined by 0.6% during March. The final April consumer sentiment reading was unchanged from the preliminary take at 95.9.

Nine of the S&P 500’s ten industry groups advanced, led by raw materials, technology and consumer discretionary. BHP put on 1.23% and Rio Tinto 2.41% in US trade. Trade in iron ore was suspended on Friday for a public holiday in China with the spot price at US$56.20 a dry ton.

Copper hit a 2015 high and lead a seven-month peak ahead of tonight's holiday on the London Metal Exchange. In London, copper gained 0.3%, lead 1.2% and tin 0.9%. Aluminium eased 0.2%, nickel 0.9% and zinc 0.5%. US copper for May delivery finished 1.85% ahead at US$2.94 a pound.

Oil ended a seventh straight winning week with a modest retreat following reports that crude exports from Iraq hit a 30-year high, dousing concerns about the impact of ISIS activity in the region. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for June delivery settled 48 cents or 0.8% lower at US$59.15 a barrel for a weekly tally of 3.5%.

The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index was little changed, falling 0.04% despite a six-week low in gold. Gold for June delivery settled $7.90 or 0.7% in the red at US$1,174.50 an ounce, its weakest close since mid-March.

Most European markets were closed for May Day holidays on Friday, however gains in resource stocks pushed Britain's FTSE  up 0.36%.

The dollar was this morning buying 78.35 US cents.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

REBOUND: Wall Street bounced off short-term oversold conditions on Friday and the ASX should do likewise today after giving a strong hint on the last session of the week that the bulls were regaining control after being routed earlier in the week. The jury is still out on whether Friday's reversal represents a return to the trading range that has held for the last few months or just a temporary respite from what felt at times like a genuine change of mood last week. Today's action will be all about positioning for tomorrow afternoon's Reserve Bank cash rate decision tomorrow afternoon. Optimism returned to the market on Friday after a well-connected commentator tipped another rate cut. Other potential market-movers today include domestic job ads and building approvals and final Chinese factory figures for last month. More details below.

ECONOMIC NEWS: April job ads and March building approvals are due at 11.30am EST. HSBC's final Chinese manufacturing PMI for April lands 15 minutes later. Factory orders are tonight's main interest in the US as another quarterly earnings season starts to wind down.

Good luck to all.