Metals melting

Copper is currently down over 4% ..Zinc down 6%.... Sell off could spread to oil if mood continues and some sort of a recovery isn't evident

Oil sector flat

Oil threading around $57.60 ahead of the US open..Interesting to note the sell off in base metals this morning..Copper down 2%..Zinc off 3.5%..A mixture of increasing inventories and the weak ISM data yesterday dampening mood.. A good read on non farm payrolls may help lift sentiment..downbeat sentiment may spill into oil..Will be interesting to see if we can close over 58 or will we fade from these levels.

Macro data on tap today (AFX)

On the macro front, today's trading session will be dominated by January's US non-farm payrolls numbers, which are expected to have risen by 150,000, compared with a monthly gain of 167,000 in the previous month.The unemployment rate in the US is forecast to have remained steady at 4.5 pct in November, compared with October.Meanwhile, US factory orders are expected to have risen by 1.0 pct from November to December, above the 0.9 pct gain registered the previous month.The final reading of the Michigan consumer sentiment indicator is forecast to remain unchanged at the initial level of 98.

Shell (ADVFN)

In further broker adjustments, Royal Dutch Shell was downgraded to 'neutral' from 'buy' at Goldman Sachs this morning following on from similar downgrades at JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort.
Goldman Sachs said the sting in the tail from yesterday's result was a 3-4 bln usd capital expenditure hike and a significant production downgrade.
Goldman also cut its price target by 7 pct to 1,900 pence from 2,050.
Earlier, JP Morgan cut its rating on the oil giant to 'neutral' from 'overweight', while DK cut its stance to 'hold' from 'buy' following Shell's fourth quarter result yesterday. Shell's shares eased 8 pence to 1,731.

Morning papers

http://www.sharecrazy.com/dailies/paper/index.html