Day trading pre-market open April 18

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

Outlook for the day: Mildly negative despite slim gains on Wall Street.

ASX futures: down 17 points or 0.23%

Overnight themes:

• US stocks edged higher in muted trade as the first full week of a new corporate earnings season got underway.
• Analysts predict company earnings declined 4.8% last quarter. No major names reported overnight. The week ahead brings updates from Tesla, Netflix, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
• "Markets are in a bit of a wait-and-see mode...We have a lot of corporate earnings ahead of us and the Fed rate decision in a couple of weeks" - Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones.
• A measure of manufacturing in New York State rose for the first time in five months, bolstering the case for higher interest rates. Bond yields rose.
• Tin prices surged 9.78% to a two-month high in London following reports of a possible mining pause in major producer Myanmar.

Key events today:

· Release of the minutes from this month’s RBA meeting – 11.30 am AEDT

· Chinese Q1 GDP, March industrial production, retail sales, unemployment, asset investment – 12 pm

S&P 500: up 14 points or 0.33%

Dow: up 101 points or 0.3%

Nasdaq: up 34 points or 0.28%

Dollar: down 0.15% to 66.95 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.1% to US$112.87

Brent crude: down US$1.55 or 1.8% to US$84.76

Gold: down US$8.80 or 0.4% to US$2,007

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 2.16%

Copper (LME): down 0.76% to US$8,955

Nickel (LME): up 0.37% to US$24,690

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: up 1.02% (3rd straight gain, 2-week high)

BHP: up 0.91% (US); up 1.56% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 0.92% (US); up 1.63% (UK)