daytrading sep 24 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

The share market is likely to start the week in neutral after a rally in the US faded on Friday and European leaders disagreed over the weekend on the next step to contain the region's sovereign debt crisis.

The December SPI 200 futures contract closed unchanged on Saturday morning at 4410 as most US stocks slipped into the red.

With no major economic news released on Friday in Europe or the US, Wall Street began the session brightly before a night-long fade dragged the S&P 500 down 0.02% for its fourth loss in five sessions. The Dow lost 18 points or 0.13% and the Nasdaq rose by the same percentage.

"After having two explosive weeks to the upside, where the S&P 500 was up 3.5%, it's a huge victory to come out this week virtually flat in the face of the concerns we have: the Middle East, the [US] fiscal cliff and more bad news than good in the economic data stream," Art Hogan, equity strategist at Lazard Capital Markets, told MarketWatch. "We had FedEx give us a warning on the global economy and the trap door fall out on the price of oil — when oil heads south, the market tends to follow, both as a barometer of the global economy and because it is the support for 20% of the S&P 500."

The Dow Jones Transportation Index fell 1% on Friday for a weekly decline of 5.9% - its biggest since last November. The index is often seen as a harbinger of change in the broader market and is closely watched for divergences from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

European markets rallied amid optimism over reports that the European Union is helping Spain draft an economic reform plan as a prelude to requesting a bailout. The Financial Times in the UK said Spain could unveil new economic reforms on Thursday. Germany's DAX advanced 0.85%, France's CAC 0.6%, Spain's IBEX 35 2.6% and Italy's FTSE MIB 1.02%. Britain's FTSE eased 0.03%.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met over the weekend but clashed on a timetable to introduce tighter banking union in the euro-zone. While Hollande wants banking union "the earlier the better", Merkel urged caution. Read more here.

"Complacency seems to have affected European policy- makers," the chief economist at Morgan Stanley in London told Bloomberg. "One case in point is the disagreement between governments about the nuts and bolts of a banking union, which remains crucial to break the negative feedback loop between banks and weak sovereigns."

A flat session for the US dollar left most dollar-denominated commodities higher on Friday. Oil continued to recover from a sharp sell-off earlier in the week. West Texas crude for November delivery put on 54 cents or 0.6% at US$92.96 a barrel.

Copper ended its first losing week in three with a modest rise, while lead hit its strongest level in nearly eight months as stocks declined. In London, copper rose 0.2%, aluminium 0.3%, lead 1%, nickel 1.4% and zinc 0.2%. Tin fell 3%. US copper for December delivery added a cent or 0.3% at US$3.77 a pound.

Gold for December delivery rallied $4.60 or 0.3% to US$1,774.80 an ounce and a weekly advance of around 0.3%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

EUROPE BACK IN SPOTLIGHT: With central bank stimulus measures largely factored in to recent trading, markets looking for a fresh impetus may once again take their lead from events in Europe. The UK Financial Times claims Spain will release a reform plan on Thursday that will clear the way for a request for a full bailout, removing another market uncertainty. In addition, Reuters reported yesterday that European leaders will let the permanent rescue fund leverage itself up to two trillion euros. However, the road to revival in Europe remains rocky, with Merkel and Hollande in public disagreement once again over the weekend. If the market is looking for an excuse to pull back this week, that may be it.

CHINESE MANUFACTURING PART TWO: The highlight of a slow week for Australian and Asian data will likely be Friday's final version of HSBC's manufacturing purchasing managers' index. The flash or preliminary version, released last week, disappointed with a reading of 47.8, up from 47.6 in August. China also releases a leading index of economic indicators tomorrow. The Shanghai Composite slumped to a three-year+ low last week.

ECONOMIC NEWS: An exceptionally light week for scheduled news in Australia includes: the Reserve Bank Financial Stability Review tomorrow and private sector credit on Friday. Highlights in the US include: consumer confidence (tomorrow); new home sales (Wed); weekly jobless claims, durable goods, revised GDP (Thu); and personal income, consumer spending, core PCE price index and consumer sentiment (Fri).

Good luck to all.