Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Positive as investors balance gains in copper, oil, gold and the Dow against declines in the S&P 500, Nasdaq, iron ore and uranium.
ASX futures: up 24 points or 0.31%
Overnight themes:
US stocks finish mixed but mostly lower as high-flying chip-makers weigh on the Nasdaq and S&P 500. The Dow rises for a third session.
The market takes a breather between inflation reports. February producer price figures tonight follow consumer price data on Tuesday that failed to dent expectations that interest rates will fall later this year. Retail sales data are also due tonight. Tuesday's gains were the strongest in a month.
AI poster child Nvidia eases 1.12%. An ETF of semiconductor stocks falls for the third time in four sessions, a possible sign of AI mania cooling after driving stock market gains for much of this year. Other drags include Intel -4.44%, Apple -1.21% and Meta Platforms -0.84%.
Resource stocks outperform during a night of extreme moves on commodity markets. The energy sector pops 1.62%. Materials rally 0.91%. Other positive moves include utilities +0.66%, financials +0.57% and industrials +0.24%.
The night's biggest drags are tech -1.08% and real estate -0.6%.
Iron ore falls to a seven-month low after the China Iron and Steel Association reports a 3.38% contraction in crude steel output this month, relative to the same period last month. Demand has also been impacted by maintenance on blast furnaces, according to the Shanghai Metals Market consultancy. China-traded ore drops 2.53% to US$112.29 a metric ton.
Copper soared to a seven-month high after Chinese smelters agreed to production cuts. China accounts for roughly half the world's copper processing. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange jumped more than 3%.
Uranium miners slid after a heavy fall on the spot market overnight. The spot price of uranium tumbled 8.46% to US$84 a pound. The sell-off followed reports of a state-owned Uzbekistan producer negotiating with a Chinese state-run producer to develop two new mines. Uzbekistan's president has set a target of doubling national uranium production by 2030. In the US, Cameco dropped 5.74%, NexGen Energy 3.62% and Uranium Energy 3.71%.
Oil is boosted by the first decline in US inventories in seven weeks. Brent crude jumps 2.6% to US$84.03 a barrel.
Key events today:
US wholesale inflation (PPI), retail sales - tonight
S&P 500: down 10 points or 0.19%
Dow: up 38 points or 0.1%
Nasdaq: down 88 points or 0.54%
Dollar: up 0.22% to 66.22 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): down 2.53% to US$112.29
Brent crude: up US$2.11 or 2.6% to US$84.03
Gold: up US$14.70 or 0.7% to US$2,173
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 2.15%
Bitcoin: up 2.59% to US$73,341
Copper (LME): up 3.04% to US$8,920
Nickel (LME): down 0.84% to US$18,365
Uranium (spot price): down 8.46% to US$84
Lithium carbonate (China spot): up 0.91% to US$15,451
