Day trading pre-market open August 21

Morning traders. Thanks @ttward and lounge lizards.

Overnight round-up and day ahead:

Aussie stocks look set to give back some of this week's relief-rally gains after Wall Street slipped for the first time in four sessions.

The SPI 200 index futures contract dropped 46 points or 0.7 per cent to 6454 as mining heavyweight BHP was dumped in overseas trade following yesterday's profit miss. The ASX 200 has regained 140 points in three sessions since Thursday's 188-point plunge.

The three-day rally in US stocks ended as traders mulled political turmoil in Italy and a downturn in US treasury yields as the White House called for rate cuts. The S&P 500 faded 23 points or 0.79 per cent, finishing at its session low. Facebook was the biggest drag after unveiling tools to give users greater control over their data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 173 points or 0.66 per cent and the Nasdaq 54 points or 0.68 per cent.

With attention swinging towards a speech later this week from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump kept up pressure on the central bank by calling for a 100-basis point tax cut while at the same time insisting the economy was "doing tremendously well". The muddled message helped drag the yield on 10-year government bonds down more than 3.5 per cent. Falling bond yields were one of the triggers for recent share market volatility.

European stocks declined following news that Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, resigned, raising the prospect of a snap election. Italy's main index, the FTSE MIB, shed 1.11 per cent. The pan-European Stoxx 600 lost 0.68 per cent.

BHP looks set to be a drag on the local market. The Big Australian, which reported a lower-than-expected full-year profit yesterday, saw its US-listed stock decline 1.47 per cent overnight and its UK stock 2.62 per cent. Rio Tinto shed 0.83 per cent in the US and 1.37 per cent in the UK. The declines came after iron ore drifted lower. The spot price at China's Tianjin port eased 25 cents or 0.3 per cent yesterday to $US88.45 a tonne.

Oil extended Monday's rally ahead of a US stockpile update tonight. Brent crude settled 29 cents or 0.5 per cent ahead at $US60.03 a barrel, the contract's first close above $US60 in a week. Crude turned higher on Monday following news that Houthi rebels in Yemen had launched a drone attack on a major Saudi oilfield.

Rising inventories and softening Chinese demand dragged on copper. The metal fell 1.1 per cent in London trade after a tracker showed Chinese end-user demand fell for a third month. The price has fallen 13 per cent since April as inventories at London warehouses almost doubled. Overnight, aluminium shed 0.7 per cent, nickel 0.4 percent and zinc 1.6 per cent. Lead rose 0.3 per cent. Tin traded flat.

Sliding US treasury yields helped support the price of gold. Gold for December delivery settled $4.10 or 0.3 per cent ahead at $US1,515.70 an ounce. The precious metal has been a recent beneficiary of turmoil in stock and bond markets.

On currency markets, the dollar edged up a fifth of a cent to 67.77 US cents.

A thin day ahead for domestic economic news, but the earnings season should provide plenty of excitement. According to Bloomberg, reports are due today from APA Group, Brambles, Crown Resorts, Domino's, Stockland and WorleyParsons. Tonight in the US the minutes are due from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Breakfast

There's a cold blast blowing across New South Wales right now, which calls for a hot breakfast. You can choose between porridge and a fry-up.