Day trading pre-market open April 20

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

Outlook for the day: Mildly negative as Wall Street closes mixed (again) and key commodities give back some of Tuesday night's gains.

ASX futures: down seven points or 0.09%

Overnight themes:

• US stocks close little changed as a "ho-hum" earnings season rolls on.
• Defensive sectors outperform as investors parse updates from Netflix and Morgan Stanley. Utilities, real estate and healthcare finish strongest. Miners weigh as a strengthening greenback weights on commodity prices. Growth sectors also end modestly lower.
• The VIX or Volatility Index falls to its lowest since November 2021.
• Netflix drops 3.2% after subscriber numbers fall short. Morgan Stanley gains 0.7%.
• “The market’s really been sort of ho-hum in this earnings season so far” - Sandi Bragar, chief client officer at Aspiriant.

Key events today:

• Q3 business confidence - 11.30 am AEDT
• Media briefing by RBA Governor Philip Lowe about the government review of the central bank - 12 pm

S&P 500: down 0.35 points or 0.01%

Dow: down 80 points or 0.23%

Nasdaq: up four points or 0.03%

Dollar: down 0.3% to 67.15 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.96% to US$112.91

Brent crude: down US$1.65 or 2% to US$83.12 (April low)

Gold: down US$12.50 or 0.6% to US$2,007.30

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 1.81%

Copper (LME): down 0.47% to US$8,970

Nickel (LME): down 0.25% to US$25,550

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 0.75%

BHP: down 0.96% (US); down 0.77% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 1.7% (US); down 1.41% (UK)