Day trading pre-market open August 1

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


Outlook for the day: Negative after Wall Street turned lower despite bumper results from Microsoft and Meta.

ASX futures: down 64 points or 0.74%


Overnight themes: ​

• US stocks gave up early gains as weakness across the wider market outweighed strong quarterly results from two of the 'Magnificent Seven' group of market leaders. ​
• The S&P 500 rolled over to a loss of 0.37% as just two of its eleven sectors closed ahead. The Dow shed 330 points or 0.74%. The Nasdaq Composite finished little changed, off 0.03%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded at new highs in early action, gaining at least 1% before the rot set in.​
• Microsoft became only the second company in history (after Nvidia) to reach a market cap of US$4 trillion, rising 3.95% after reporting strong cloud computing revenues. Meta Platforms soared 11.25% after raising its sales outlook. ​
• Inflation nudged higher in June, according to the Federal Reserve's preferred measure. Consumer prices were 2.6% higher in June than a year earlier, increasing from an annual pace of 2.4% in May. The report helped explain the central bank's reluctance to lower official rates at this week's meeting. "The Fed got validation this morning with inflation coming in a little higher than expected," Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X, told CBS News. "There is some evidence of tariff impact in the inflation data, but it remains modest. Health care, housing and utilities continue to be key sources in driving inflation."​
• Pharmaceutical companies dragged after the White House wrote to the CEOs of 17 companies demanding lower prices for prescription drugs. UnitedHealth and Merck were the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 6.19% and 4.44%, respectively. ​
• Health was the worst of the sectors, skidding 2.79%. Other notable falls included real estate -1.73%, materials -0.99% and financials -0.62%. Two sectgors posted gains: communication services (Meta) +2.08% and utilities +0.59%.​
• Apple and Amazon reported just after this morning's closing bell to mixed reactions. Apple was lately up 2.9%. Amazon dropped 5.3%. ​
• US copper added to Wednesday's losses after the White House wrong-footed the market by excluding ores, cathodes and concentrates from a 50% import tariff that comes into force tonight. Overnight, US copper futures plunged 20.68% on Comex to US$4.4325 per pound, unwinding a premium over other copper benchmarks that had developed since President Donald Trump first mooted a tariff on copper imports. The fall was the metal's largest single-day loss in history. Copper futures trade is based on cathodes, according to Reuters. "I'd imagine it's a disaster for some people," Dan Smith, managing director at Commodity Market Analytics, said. "You spent all this money getting stuff across to America and then, it's going to have to sit there, isn't it?" Copper also fell on the London Metal Exchange along with other industrial metals. Analysts blamed weak seasonal demand and a rise in the US dollar. Benchmark LME copper dropped 0.94% to US$9,607 per metric ton. ​
• Gold turned higher as tonight's US trade-deal deadline drew some traders back to havens. Spot gold bounced US$15.35 or 0.47% to US$3,290.10 per ounce. Earlier, gold futures settled US$4.20 or 0.1% weaker at US$3,348.60. "We've seen an uptick in trade uncertainty as we approach this August 1st deadline for tariffs... just a little bit of a revival of the safe-haven bid," Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals, told Reuters. ​
• Silver fell to a three-week low. Spot silver was lately down 42 US cents or 1.12% to US$36.71 per ounce. "It would not be surprising if strong selling pressure in silver futures is partly due to sympathy selling amid the big copper market meltdown," Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at **promotion blocked** Metals, told Reuters.​
• Iron ore slid to a two-week low after Chinese factory activity contracted for a fourth straight month. China's manufacturing purchasing managers index, released yesterday, dropped to 49.3 from 49.7 in June. Readings below 50 indicate shrinking activity. Benchmark ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange posted a loss of 2.12% at the end of daytime trade at US$108.32 per metric ton. The Singapore ore benchmark fell 1.83% to US$99.85.​

Key events today: ​

• Wholesale inflation (PPI) - 11.30 am AEST​
• US earnings (Apple, Amazon) - tonight​
• US July jobs report - tonight ​
• US July manufacturing - tonight​

S&P 500: down 24 points or 0.37%

Dow: down 330 points or 0.74%

Nasdaq: down 7 points or 0.03%

VIX: up 8.01% to 16.72

US 10-year treasury yield: steady at 4.378%

Dollar: down 0.31% to 64.25 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 2.38% to US$108.32

Brent crude: down 71 US cents or 0.97% to US$72.53

Gold (futures): down US$4.20 or 0.1% to US$3,348.60

Gold (spot): up US$15.35 or 0.47% to US$3,290.10

Silver (spot): down 42 US cents or 1.12% to US$36.71

Palladium (spot): down US$25 or 2.04% to US$1,203.50

Antimony (China ore): down 0.28% to US$19,757

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 0.1%

Bitcoin: down 0.52% to US$116,485

Copper (LME): down 0.94% to US$9,607

Nickel (LME): down 0.89% to US$14,950

Lithium carbonate (China spot battery grade): down 1.58% to 8,835 yuan

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 2.41%

Uranium (spot): up 0.36% to US$71.25

Global X Uranium ETF (URA): down 1.82%

BHP: up 0.04% (US); down 1.73% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 0.47% (US); down 1.84% (UK) ​