Outlook for the day: Mildly negative despite a positive session on Wall Street.
ASX futures: down 15 points or 0.21%
Overnight themes:
US stocks break a three-session losing streak ahead of tonight's November jobs report.
The Nasdaq leads as megacap growth stocks outperform. Google's parent company Alphabet climbs 5.34% following the launch of its Gemini AI model. Chip-maker AMD flies up 9.89% after forecasting a market of US$45 billion for its data-centre AI chips.
"Today it's an AMD-Google rally. There's a contagion effect across the market. Everyone wants to get on the bandwagon" - Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management (per Reuters).
The tech sector gains 1.28%, communication services (Alphabet, Meta) 3.22% and consumer discretionary (Amazon) 0.9%. Also positive are materials +0.67% and financials +0.4%.
Tonight's employment data is awaited as a pointer to how soon the Federal Reserve may start to cut interest rates next year. Economists anticipate an increase in total employment of around 180,000 jobs last month. A weaker result will encourage speculation that the first cut could come as soon as March. A stronger result could push cuts later into the year.
Data overnight shows the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time ticked up by 1,000 last week to 220,000.
The US energy sector drops 0.61% as oil closes at its lowest since late June. Brent crude declines 0.34% to US$74.05 a barrel.
A jump in Chinese imports and positive production updates from Vale and Rio Tinto help lift iron ore 3.93% in China. China's customs authority reports a 6.2% increase in ore imports this year and a 3.4% improvement last month from the previous month. Brazilian giant Vale retains its production target for a second year. Rio announces plans to start production at its Simandou project a year ahead of schedule.
Key events today:
US November employment report - tonight
S&P 500: up 36 points or 0.8%
Dow: up 63 points or 0.17%
Nasdaq: up 193 points or 1.37%
Dollar: up 0.81% to 66.04 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): up 3.93% to US$133.13
Brent crude: down 25 US cents or 0.34% to US$74.05
Gold: down US$1.50 or 0.07% to US$2,046.40
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 0.71%
Bitcoin: down 1.18% to US$43,294
Copper (LME): up 1.01% to US$8,370
Nickel (LME): up 2.9% to US$16,650
Uranium: steady at US$82.25
Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 1.63% to US$16,810
