Daytrading October 28 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.

Market wrap:

The share market's soft run looks set to extend into a third session after deteriorating economic data and energy prices dragged Wall Street lower ahead of an after-market earnings update from Apple.

The December SPI200 futures contract dropped 20 points or 0.4% to 5326 as US stocks retreated further from Friday's two-month high.

Energy stocks led the pullback as the S&P 500 declined for a second day, closing with a loss of five points or 0.26%. The Dow shed 42 points or 0.24% and the Nasdaq five points or 0.09%.

“After stocks moved higher last week with the help of policy action in China and promised action from the ECB [European Central Bank], US stocks have been listless to down this week as the hangover from the central bank party sinks in,” Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group in the US, told MarketWatch.

The downbeat tone for the session was set by news of declines in US consumer confidence and orders for durable goods. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 97.6 this month from 102.6 in September, well short of the reading of 103 anticipated by economists. Read more here. Orders for long-lasting goods fell a seasonally-adjusted 1.2% last month and a decline the previous month was revised to a sharper 3% from an initially reported 2.3%. Read more here.

“We’re definitely seeing softer data across the US, and more negatives than positives in earnings this morning,” Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services in the US, told Bloomberg. “It feels like there are noticeable misses.”

Well-received reports from Pfizer and Merck helped the health sector defy the general market downtrend, but there were negative reactions to reports from Ford and UPS. Apple was due to report shortly after the close of regular trade this morning. Shares in the world's largest company by market capitalisation eased 0.63% in regular trade. Twitter reported following the close of regular trade and was last down 8.7% in after-market action.

The US energy ETF fell 1.2% to a three-week low as a third day of falls dragged crude oil to its lowest close in two months. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for December delivery settled 78 cents or 1.8% lower at US$43.20 a barrel after the US government unveiled plans to sell down the national reserve to help the federal budget deficit.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, seen by some traders as a canary for the US economy, tanked 2.64% towards a three-week low following weak results from UPS, JetBlue and rail companies. The index has fallen 12% this year, while the Dow was last off just 1.4%. Read more here.

BHP gave up 2.72% and Rio Tinto 2.06% in US trade. Spot iron ore for import to China held steady yesterday at US$50.80 a dry ton.

The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index improved 0.98% as gold continued to mark time ahead of tonight's US Federal Reserve policy statement. Gold for December delivery settled 40 cents lower at US$1,165.80 an ounce.

Copper edged higher amid speculation that the Fed will push its first rate increase since 2006 into next year. In London, copper gained 0.5% and nickel 1%. Aluminium lost 0.3%, lead 0.4% and tin 0.5%. Zinc closed flat. US copper for December delivery was recently up 0.3% at US$2.37 a pound.

Resource stocks steered Europe's benchmark share index to a second straight loss. The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 1.07%, Germany's DAX 1.01%, France's CAC 1.02% and Britain's FTSE 0.81%.

The dollar was this morning buying 72 US cents.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

ALL EYES ON APPLE: Wall Street stepped lower overnight, but that may be swiftly forgotten if the market likes this morning's Q3 earnings update from the world's largest company, due any moment. Apple has enough market weight to move the three major US indices on its own. You can follow the reaction here at MarketWatch. US equity futures will give a lead later in the day - improve and we may pre-empt a US rally tonight, weaker and we're likely going lower. Of course, there is the not-insignificant matter of a Fed policy statement to come tonight, so caution is likely to be the byword here for a third session. Hopefully we'll get a decent move one way or the other tomorrow.  

ECONOMIC NEWS: Quarterly consumer inflation figures are due at 11.30am EST. Tonight's big-ticket item in the US is the Federal Reserve policy statement. Also due: crude oil inventories and goods trade balance.

Good luck to all.