Day trading pre-market open November 8

Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome and @Patterns.


Outlook for the day: Neutral as traders balance Wall Street's best winning run in two years against pressure on commodity prices.

ASX futures: down 1 point or 0.01%


Overnight themes:

• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq log their longest win streaks in around two years as falling bond yields encourage traders to buy growth stocks.
• The S&P 500 rises for a seventh session, buoyed by hopes the current rates cycle has peaked. The Nasdaq notches an eighth straight gain. Both indices are rebounding from technical corrections.
• Tech stocks lead as the yield on 10-year US treasuries declines almost eight points. The sector gains 1.08% as investors buy Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
• “As yields move lower, we tend to get a bigger rebound in the growth parts of the market... There’s some momentum after last week, there’s some follow through... We’re not seeing yet any real consolidation in some of the gains we’ve seen over the last six days” - Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.
• Inflation worries are soothed by a sharp retreat in energy prices. Oil logs its weakest close since August following soft Chinese import data. China crude imports last month were roughly a million barrels a day lower than during the northern summer. The US energy sector slumps 2.23% as West Texas Intermediate falls back under US$80 a barrel.
• The materials sector is also a significant drag, falling 1.87% as a rebound in the US dollar dents dollar-denominated commodity prices.
• Iron ore falls after China's main commodity exchange announces it will cap trading volumes for ore futures. The new trading caps at the Dalian exchange (DCE) will start in January and run until May. The exchange will also increase trading fees. BHP and Rio Tinto sink in overseas trade.
• "The move is to curb the excessive speculative activities and we expect iron ore prices to move within limited range in the short term" - Cheng Peng, analyst at Sinosteel Futures (source: Reuters).
• Gold drops to a near three-week low following heavy selling of physical gold as investors took advantage of last month's rally. Liquidations at marketplace BullionVault last month were the highest since June 2019, according to MarketWatch.

Key events today:

• Address by US Federal Reserve Chair Powell - tonight
• US bond auction - tonight

S&P 500: up 12 points or 0.28%

Dow: up 57 points or 0.17%

Nasdaq: up 121 points or 0.9%

Dollar: down 0.86% to 64.33 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.48% to US$126.81

Brent crude: down US$3.57 or 4.19% to US$81.61

Gold: down US$15.10 or 0.8% to US$1,973.50

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 2.52%

Bitcoin: up 1.72% to US$35,635

Copper (LME): down 0.52% to US$8,195

Nickel (LME): down 2.52% to US$17,955

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.94% to US$22,083

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 1.37%

BHP: down 2.52% (US); down 1.76% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 2.97% (US); down 1.95% (UK)