Day trading pre-market open December 20

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


Outlook for the day: The ASX 200 has a fresh 10-month high in its sights after Wall Street's end-of-year rally lifts the Dow to a new record.

ASX futures: up 35 points or 0.47%


Overnight themes:

• Wall Street's bull run continues overnight as investors brush off central bank attempts to rein in expectations about rate cuts next year.
• The Dow scores a fifth straight record close. The S&P 500 rises to around 0.7% from its January 2022 all-time closing high. All 11 sectors advance.
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic says there is "no urgency" to start cutting rates as inflation slowly retreats. Financial markets have priced in a 67.5% chance of a cut as soon as March, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
• Inflation "is going to come down relatively slowly in the next six months, which means that there's not going to be urgency for us to start to pull off of our restrictive stance," Bostic tells the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta.
• A strong month for small caps continues with the Russell 2000 index gaining 2%. The index has put on more than 11% this month as small caps play catch-up with the wider market.
• Building stocks rally as housing starts lift to their highest level in more than a year and a half.
• The energy sector leads as oil rises for the fourth time in five sessions. Brent crude settles at a two-week high after BP suspends shipments through the Red Sea following a wave of Houthi attacks on shipping. Several companies have paused shipments as Houthi rebels attack vessels they say are heading towards Israel.
• “The escalation in geopolitical risks, manifested in regular hostile acts towards merchant ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels, undoubtedly plays a role in the short to medium-term rise in oil prices” - Rania Gule, market analyst at XS.com (per MarketWatch).
• The US materials sector gains 0.91% as a weaker greenback helps metals. Gold, copper and nickel all advance.
• The Australian dollar rises to its highest since July after the Reserve Bank leaves rate hikes on the table. The minutes from this month's monetary policy meeting released yesterday show the central bank discussed raising the cash rate target, but decided to hold off until it had more information. The Aussie trades as high as 67.76 US cents and was lately up 0.84% at 67.61 cents.

Key events today:

• US consumer confidence - tonight

S&P 500: up 28 points or 0.59%

Dow: up 252 points or 0.68%

Nasdaq: up 98 points or 0.66%

Dollar: up 0.84% to 67.61 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.11% to US$130.42

Brent crude: up US$1.28 or 1.64% to US$79.23

Gold: up US$11.60 or 0.57% to US$2,052.10

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 2.7%

Bitcoin: down 0.82% to US$42,240

Copper (LME): up 1.22% to US$8,586

Nickel (LME): up 1.4% to US$16,655

Uranium: up 2.26% to US$90

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.97% to US$14,290

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: up 1.77% (4-week high)

BHP: up 1.7% (US); up 1.19% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 1.33% (US); up 0.36% (UK)