Outlook for the day: Mildly negative ahead of domestic consumer inflation data this morning that will affect the outlook for interest rate cuts.
ASX futures: down 7 points or 0.08%
Overnight themes:
US stocks finished mixed as investors weighed a three-month high in benchmark treasury yields against upbeat consumer confidence data and optimism as the biggest week of the corporate earnings season gets into full swing.
The Nasdaq rallied 0.78% to a new high as Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple advanced ahead of trading updates this week.
The S&P 500 firmed 0.16% despite just two of its eleven sectors posting gains.
The Dow slid 0.36% to its sixth loss in the last seven sessions.
Alphabet jumped 4.65% in after-market trade this morning as growth in its cloud business helped the company beat Q3 earnings expectations. The search engine giant was the first of the Magnificent Seven group of market-leaders to report this week.
The S&P 500's gain was fuelled by a 1.56% rise in just two sectors: communication services (Alphabet, Meta, Netflix) and tech +1.12% (Microsoft, Apple).
The utilities sector skidded 2.13% as the yield on 10-year US treasuries broke above 4.3% for the first time since early July. Yields climbed after a report showed consumer confidence jumped to 108.7 this month from a revised 98.7 in October, the biggest monthly increase since March 2021.
"As bond yields go up and bond prices go down, other assets that historically have bond-like characteristics like utilities could be under slightly more pressure" - Bill Merz, head of Capital Markets Research for U.S. Bank's asset management group (per Reuters).
The two S&P sectors with the biggest weighting on the ASX - financials and materials - declined 0.61% and 0.67%, respectively.
Gold hit a new high as a tight US presidential election race entered its final days. Gold futures broke above US$2,800 an ounce for the first time, trading as high as US$2,787.30 an ounce. On Wall Street, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index of miners gained 1.59%.
"Gold should retain its upward bias and may even flirt with $2,800 in the days ahead, as long as U.S. election risks continue weighing on market sentiment, while Fed rate cut expectations remain intact" Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity Group (per Reuters).
Oil dropped to a seven-week low a day after its biggest percentage loss in two years. Brent crude eased 30 US cents or 0.4% to US$71.12 a barrel. The international benchmark skidded 6.1% on Monday after Israel avoided Iranian oil facilities in a weekend attack.
Key events today:
Q1 consumer inflation report (CPI) - 11.30 am AEDT
US advance GDP - tonight
US private payrolls - tonight
S&P 500: up 9 points or 0.16%
Dow: down 155 points or 0.36%
Nasdaq: up 146 points or 0.78%
Dollar: down 0.41% to 65.56 US cents
Iron ore: down 0.1% to US$104.09
Brent crude: down 30 US cents or 0.4% to US$71.12
Gold (futures): up US$25.90 or 0.9% to US$2,781.10
Gold (spot): up US$27.99 or 1.02% to US$2,772.43
Silver (spot): up 73 US cents or 2.16% to US$34.44
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 1.59%
Bitcoin: up 3.69% to US$71,977
Copper (LME): up 0.29% to US$9,569.50
Nickel (LME): down 0.37% to US$15,960
Lithium carbonate (China): up 0.61% to 74,050 yuan
Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 1.71%
Uranium (spot): -
Global X Uranium ETF(URA): down 1.12%
BHP: up 0.03% (US); up 0.87% (UK)
