Day trading pre-market open December 4

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


Outlook for the day: Highly positive. The ASX 200 looks primed to open at its strongest in ten weeks following 2023 highs for the Dow and S&P 500 and gains in key commodities.

ASX futures: up 65 points or 0.92%


Friday themes:

• US stocks close at the highest this year amid growing optimism that US interest rates have peaked. The S&P 500 rallies 0.59% to its strongest close since March 2022.
• Stocks reverse early losses and treasury yields fall after a cautious outlook from the Chair of the Federal Reserve Chair. Jerome Powell says the risks of over- or under-tightening are now more balanced with rates "well into restrictive territory". The central bank is "moving forward carefully" and will base its decisions on incoming data. The bank next meets on December 13.
• "[Powell] used the word 'balanced,' and the message he's sending is the Fed is not going to change its rhetoric, but things are going the way they want them to go and they're not going to raise rates again... They're done, they're finished, and that's what the market thinks" - Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities (per Reuters).
• Two-year treasury yields fall to their lowest since mid-June.
• Ten of eleven sectors advance, led by interest-rate sensitive real estate +2.11% and industrials +1.57%. Other sectors gaining at least 1% are consumer discretionary, utilities and materials.
• For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.77%, the Dow 2.4% and the Nasdaq 0.38%. All three benchmarks have risen for five straight weeks.
• Gold soars to an all-time high as traders bet the Federal Reserve is done with rate hikes. Gold for February delivery hits a record US$2,089.70. Silver rallies 0.9% to its highest in more than six months.
• A rebound in iron ore lifts BHP and Rio Tinto in overseas trade. China ore prices bounce 2% on Friday after a measure of factory activity unexpectedly expands. However, China's benchmark ore breaks a run of six straight weekly gains, thanks to declines earlier in the week as Beijing stepped up its monitoring of price action.
• Oil settles at a two-week low amid market scepticism that members of the OPEC+ oil cartel will honour voluntary production cuts announced on Thursday.
• “It seems traders either aren’t buying that members will be compliant or don’t view it as being sufficient” - Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Key events this week:

• November job ads, Q1 company operating profits - 11.30 am AEDT
• RBA interest rate decision - Tuesday
• US job openings - Tuesday
• Q1 GDP - Wednesday
• US private payrolls - Wednesday
• Trade balance - Thursday
• US monthly jobs report - Friday

S&P 500: up 27 points or 0.59%

Dow: up 295 points or 0.82%

Nasdaq: up 79 points or 0.55%

Dollar: up 0.03% to 66.67 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 2% to US$136.55

Brent crude: down US$1.98 or 2.45% to US$78.88

Gold: up US$32.50 or % to US$2,089

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 1.67%

Bitcoin: down 0.48% to US$38,787

Copper (LME): up 1.72% to US$8,610.50

Nickel (LME): up 2.39% to US$17,042

Uranium: up 0.15% to US$82

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.76% to US$18,213

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: up 1.32%

BHP: up 3.25% (US); up 2.93% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 3% (US); up 3.7% (UK)