Louie, is this an application to launch the pre-market thread each day? I've been doing it for about five years and I'd be delighted to hand over the responsibility.
Morning traders.
Market wrap:
Mild declines on Wall Street and a mixed night on commodity markets point to a tepid open on the ASX this morning.
The September SPI 200 futures contract ended the night session little changed, ahead four points or 0.1% at 5014 as world markets continued to tread water ahead of this week's central bank meetings, US GDP and jobs reports and Chinese factory data.
US stocks pulled further back from record levels overnight following the release of soft housing data. The S&P 500 eased seven points or 0.39% despite a partial afternoon recovery. The Dow pared its morning loss to a final deficit of 37 points or 0.24% and the Nasdaq lost 0.39%.
"Some of the economic data appears softer than we anticipated," the chief investment officer at First Citizens BancShares in the US told Bloomberg. "Some pause might be in order over the next few months after the strong gains of the first half of the year."
Pending home sales declined by 0.4% last month as increased mortgage rates began to undermine demand. However, economists had anticipated an even sharper fall after the index hit its highest level in May in almost seven years.
A round of weekend corporate deals helped put a floor under the market. Luxury retailer Saks agreed to a take-over by Canadian department store Hudson Bay Company. Advertising giants Omnicon and France's Publicis Groupe announced a merger. Drug-maker Perrigo revealed a deal with Irish biotech Elan.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average, closely followed by Dow Theorists, fell 1.1% to a near three-week closing low. Small caps were also weak, pushing the Russell 2000 index down 0.75%
Iron ore turned lower yesterday as Asian share indexes suffered sharp declines. Spot iron ore for import to China fell 90 cents to US$131.70 per dry metric tonne. Japan's Nikkei yesterday dived 3.32% and China's Shanghai Composite sagged 1.73% to close back below 2,000 for the first time in a week. In US action overnight, BHP dipped 0.37% and Rio Tinto lost 0.2%.
A tug of war in oil markets continued as bearish signals from China competed with further turmoil in Egypt over the weekend. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was lately down 17 cents or 0.2% at US$104.54 a barrel.
"The bears have the China slowdown in their favour, [while] the bulls are watching how the Egypt situation develops to potentially stoke another big bull run," the president of Lido Isle Advisors in the US told MarketWatch.
Industrial metals stabilised following Friday's sell-off. US copper for September delivery was recently up about a third of a cent or 0.1% at US$3.11 a pound. In London, copper rallied 0.3%, aluminium 0.2%, tin 2.4% and lead 0.7%. Nickel lost 1.1% and zinc 0.5%.
Gold reversed Friday's loss as technical analysts talked about a developing support level at around US$1,315. Gold for December delivery was recently up $5.60 or 0.4% at US$1,327.40 an ounce.
The major European markets held their ground as traders waited for several marquee news events later this week. Germany's DAX inched up 0.17%, France's CAC was flat and Britain's FTSE added 0.08%.
TRADING THEMES TODAY
WAITING FOR CATALYSTS: We're likely facing another day of minimal change on the index after a night of consolidation on world markets. The big plus for local traders is that on-going weakness in Asia over the last week has had little effect on local trade, with gains in the big banks compensating for any weakness in "China-facing" commodity stocks. That could change any day, but it looks like the big money is content to wait for Thursday's July manufacturing updates from China. Commodity markets offered no clear message overnight - gold up, oil down, iron ore down, base metals mixed.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Monthly building approvals are due at 11.30am EST. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens is due to address a luncheon at 1.05pm. Japan releases a raft of economic data just ahead of our market open this morning. Europe releases retail data and German consumer news. Consumer confidence is tonight's main event in the US.
