Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome. Outlook...

Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.


Outlook for the day: Negative after banks and miners sit out a tech-led rebound on Wall Street overnight. (The financial and materials sectors have the heaviest weighting on the ASX.)

ASX futures: down 29 points or 0.37%


Overnight themes:

• Megacap tech stocks lead a lop-sided recovery on Wall Street as mild wholesale inflation figures help calm market jitters triggered by Wednesday's "hot" consumer inflation report.
• The Nasdaq Composite surges 1.68% to a new high. Apple and Nvidia both gain more than 4%. Amazon closes at a record.
• The S&P 500 gains 0.74% despite fewer than half of its 11 sectors advancing.
• The Dow dips 0.02% to a fourth-straight loss. More than half of the blue-chip average's component companies retreat.
• Growth stocks rebound after wholesale prices increase less than expected in March. The Producer Price Index edges up 0.2% for the month - down from 0.6% growth in February and below the 0.3% figure anticipated by economists. Core PPI also gains 0.2%.
• The PPI comes as a relief after Wednesday's stronger-than-expected Consumer Price Index doused expectations that interest rates could fall as soon as June.
• The overnight reversal underscores the resilience of the current market, according to Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. "2024 is the Rocky Balboa market. When the S&P 500 falls 0.75% or more, the next day is bouncing back more than anytime in history," Carson tweets.
• Growth sectors dominate the night's rally. Tech jumps 2.36%, communication services 1.14% and consumer discretionary 0.94%.
• The financial sector sinks 0.58% before the first-quarter reporting season gets underway tonight with trading updates from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. JPMorgan drops 0.02%. Wells Fargo sheds 0.44%. Citigroup gains 0.88%.
• Also weak overnight are the health sector -0.49%, consumer staples -0.28%, utilities -0.21%, energy -0.2% and materials -0.1%.
• Iron ore rises for a fourth session in China as soft inflation data stoke stimulus hopes. Copper and other industrial metals retreat. Benchmark ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange advance 1.29%. Copper eases 0.14% further from Tuesday's 14-month peak on the London Metal Exchange.
• Gold logs a new high, reversing Wednesday's weakness. The yellow metal climbs to within US$5 of breaking the US$2,400 an ounce level for the first time.
• Oil drops back below US$90 a barrel as traders wait to see whether Iran will retaliate against an Israeli strike on its Syrian embassy with a direct attack on Israel. Brent crude falls 0.8% to US$89.74.

Key events today:

• US consumer sentiment - tonight

S&P 500: up 38 points or 0.74%

Dow: down 2 points or 0.01%

Nasdaq: up 272 points or 1.68%

Dollar: up 0.53% to 65.42 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 1.29% to US$114.14

Brent crude: down 74 US cents or 0.8% to US$89.74

Gold: up US$24.30 or 1% to US$2,372.70

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 1.43%

Bitcoin: down 0.21% to US$70,308

Copper (LME): down 0.14% to US$9,361

Nickel (LME): down 2.39% to US$17,730

Uranium (spot price): up 0.87% to US$89.50

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.14% to US$15,629

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: up 1.19%

BHP: down 0.32% (US); down 0.97% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 0.36% (US); down 0.1% (UK)