Day trading pre-market open August 27

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


Outlook for the day: Neutral/mildly positive following a mixed night on Wall Street ahead of a trading update this week from AI poster child Nvidia.

ASX futures: up 4 points or 0.05%


Overnight themes:

• Wall Street's main stock benchmarks finished mixed, with the Dow at an all-time closing high but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lowered by a dip in Nvidia ahead of Wednesday's quarterly earnings report.
• The Dow finished 0.16% ahead at a record close after being up as much as 0.6%. More than two-thirds of its 30 component companies advanced.
• Tech stocks weighed as the S&P 500 dropped 0.32% and the Nasdaq lost 0.85%.
• Nvidia declined 2.25% amid worries that its valuation leaves little margin for disappointment in Wednesday's Q2 earnings update. Other chip-makers also retreated.
• “I think there’s a little angst in the technology sector about the upcoming Nvidia earnings. The market is in a pretty healthy place, but it is really hard to make big advances higher if tech is a laggard — it’s just too big of a weight in the index” - Baird analyst Ross Mayfield (per CNBC).
• A divided market saw the tech sector sink 1.12% and a decline in Amazon help pull the consumer discretionary down 0.81%. Other sector falls were modest.
• The energy sector rallied 1.11% as oil hit a two-week high. Brent crude ripped 3.1% as export disruptions in Libya compounded worries about Middle East production as Israel and Hezbollah traded rocket fire across the weekend. The warlord controlling Libya's east, where most of the nation's oil fields are situated, announced he was halting production and exports amid a dispute with the internationally-recognised government that controls the rest of the country.
• The two sectors with the biggest weighting on the ASX both finished higher in US trade: materials +0.39% and financials +0.31%.
• US stocks were coming off a strong week that included solid gains on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the time had come to ease monetary policy.
• Gold neared record levels amid rising tensions in the Middle East and as traders prepared for a US interest rate cut next month. Gold futures settled just 40 cents below last week's record close at US$2,555.20 an ounce.
• Iron ore hit a two-week high as traders anticipated improved demand as China nears its peak construction season. Benchmark ore rallied 3.45% in China to US$105.40 a metric ton.
• Uranium miners surged on the ASX yesterday, but face headwinds this session following a sharp drop in the spot price and a modest retreat in US miners. The spot uranium price dropped 4.12% overnight to US$78.30 a pound, according to Numerco. In the US, the Global X Uranium ETF (URA) declined 0.22%. Albemarle shed 1.72%. SQM gave up 1.04%.

Key events today:

• Corporate earnings: BHP, Coles, Woodside, Worley, Zip Co, Lovisa, Johns Lyng, McMillan Shakespeare, Nanosonics (source: CommSec)
• US consumer confidence - tonight

S&P 500: down 18 points or 0.32%

Dow: up 65 points or 0.16%

Nasdaq: down 152 points or 0.85%

Dollar: up 0.22% to 67.72 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 3.45% to US$105.40

Brent crude: up US$2.41 or 3.1% to US$81.43

Gold (futures): up US$8.90 or 0.3% to US$2,555.20

Gold (spot): up US$6.90 or 0.28% to US$2,516.55

Silver: up 8 US cents or 0.25% to US$29.90

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 0.26%

Bitcoin: down 1.2% to US$63,405

Copper (LME): exchange closed for UK holiday

Nickel (LME): exchange closed for UK holiday

Lithium carbonate (China): down 0.07% to 74,200 yuan

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 0.53%

Uranium (spot): down 4.12% to US$78.30

BHP: up 0.58% (US); UK: no trade, market holiday

Rio Tinto: up 1.11% (US); UK: no trade, market holiday