daytrading oct 21 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

A fresh five-year high awaits Australian investors this morning following a record close on Wall Street as the corporate earnings season gathered momentum.

The December SPI 200 futures contract rallied 22 points or 0.4% to 5343 after well-received profit reports from Google, Morgan Stanley and GE helped drive the S&P 500 to an all-time high.

The US's benchmark share index kicked up another 12 points or 0.68% to complete its best week since early July. The Dow put on 28 points or 0.28% and the Nasdaq surged 1.32% as technology stocks outperformed the broader market. The S&P 500 put on 2.4% last week as traders cheered a temporary fix to Washington's latest budget and borrowing row.

"So far, early in the earnings season, I would have to say it's better than average. Not great, but better than average," JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade in the US, told MarketWatch. "We're at all-time highs, so the market is certainly seeing it that way."

Shares in Google charged 13.8% to a new record and topped US$1,000 for the first time. Morgan Stanley advanced 2.63% on an 80% rise in third-quarter profit and GE rallied 3.53%.

Also helping sentiment were comments from Federal Reserve officials that implied the central bank will maintain its current level of stimulus for the immediate future following a damaging political stand-off in Washington. Fed Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said he "would have a hard time arguing for us to dial it back" this month. "My personal opinion is that it's not in play. This is just too tender a moment." Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said the disruption from the government shutdown meant the Fed did not have enough information to taper. A majority of economists polled by Bloomberg now expect the "taper" to be postponed until March at the earliest.

An acceleration in Chinese economic growth reported on Friday supported Australia's biggest miners in US trade. BHP put on 0.61% and Rio Tinto 0.48% after China's GDP increased to 7.8% over the third quarter. Spot iron ore for import to China was steady on Friday at US$134.40 per dry tonne.

The Chinese news had minimal impact at the London Metal Exchange, where copper edged up 0.2%, nickel 1.4% and zinc 0.1%. Aluminium and tin eased 0.2%, while lead was flat. US copper for December delivery slipped two-thirds of a cent or 0.2% to US$3.29 a pound.

A modest rise in oil was not enough to prevent a fifth losing week in six for the November West Texas Intermediate crude contract. The November contract edged up 19 cents or 0.2% to $100.86 a barrel but lost around 1% for the week.

"China data basically came in as expected. It showed things have stopped getting worse, but haven't started getting better either," Colin Cieszynski, senior market analyst at CMC Markets, told MarketWatch.

Gold trimmed its gain for the week to around 4%. On Friday, gold for December delivery fell $6.50 or 0.5% to USS$1,316.50 an ounce.

Europe's benchmark index locked in a seventh straight advance, its best run since December, as the Chinese data and a strong start on Wall Street encouraged buyers. The Stoxx Europe 600 index put on 0.79% to close at its highest point level since June 2008 as Germany's DAX gained 0.6%, France's CAC 1.09% and Britain's FTSE 0.71%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

ECONOMIC BACKLOG IN US: The re-opening of the federal government in the US last week means a backlog of economic data will hit traders' screens this week. Delayed releases include existing homes tonight and the September jobs report tomorrow. Although the numbers will be scrutinised for the impact of the Washington stoush, they may have less impact than normal because of the delay and downgraded expectations.

US QUARTERLY EARNINGS: Across the Pacific, the Q3 corporate profit season should continue to provide support this week. The early reports have been broadly well received, suggesting no major dislocation between current share prices and record index levels. Among those reporting this week are Microsoft, AT&T, Halliburton, McDonald's, UTC, Boeing, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, Amazon and Ford.

AUSTRALIAN AGM/EGMS: We're deep into the domestic general meeting season. Among those holding meetings this week are: CRH, PGC, PMC, RED, SFZ, SRQ, WTF (today); AKA, BGA, BKL, BKN, BOL, BXB, CYA, FLK, ITT, MNF, MZI, OEC, OTE, SMX, SXA, SXL, VKA, WCN, ZAM (tomorrow); AGK, APZ, BLH, BNX, BWF, CAA, CGS, CIN, COJ, COO, CRL, CDA, CUL, EOL, GHC, GOZ, GTG, MOC, ORG, PAB, SDG, SHJ, SHR, SSM, SUL, SYA, TPL, TTN, TWE, WTP (Wed); ACB, AIA, AMC, APA, FGE, FGF, GBT, GFL, IFE, HBS, MVT, MWR, NCM, PBG, RRP, RWH, SER, SGH, SIV, SKE, SKT, SUN, TOL, UXC, WCB (Thu); and AHD, ASB, AZC, BLZ, CKL, CLH, CRZ, CYG, EQT, EYM, FSA, KOV, KPC, PPX, PTB, RNS, TIS, TSE, TUC and VEI (Fri). (Source: BRR Media).

CHINESE MANUFACTURING: Thursday brings a first peek at October manufacturing figures from China. HSBC's flash PMI is expected to show a modest increase in activity, in line with recent trends.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The quarterly consumer inflation report on Wednesday is the highlight of a very light week for domestic data. US highlights include: existing home sales (tonight); non-farm payrolls, unemployment rate (tomorrow); weekly jobless claims, new home sales (Thu); and durable goods orders and consumer sentiment (Fri).

Good luck to all.