Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Mildly negative following a consolidation session on Wall Street and a four-month low in iron ore.
ASX futures: down 4 points or 0.05%
Overnight themes:
US stocks struggle for direction as investors look past last week's AI-fuelled rally and ahead to inflation data this week that could delay the start of interest rate cuts.
The S&P 500 reverses 0.38%. The Nasdaq fades to a loss of 0.13%. The Dow gives up 0.16%.
Treasury yields climb amid worries that Thursday's Personal Consumption Expenditures price index will show inflation is not easing fast enough for the Federal Reserve to cut benchmark rates. Recent data have prompted markets to push back the first cut from March to June, according to CME's FedWatch tool. The yield on 10-year US treasuries has climbed from below 3.8% at the end of last year to around 4.3%.
"It's a lot of position squaring ahead of the big data, investors are just trying to make sure they're not underweight or overweight" - Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management (per Reuters).
Stocks set new highs last week as the prospect of AI productivity gains offset delays to the first rate cut. The impact of higher rates was underscored overnight by news that sales of new homes increased by 1.5% last month, below expectations for a post-Christmas rebound of 2.4%.
Chip-makers continue to rise following last week's blowout earnings outlook from Nvidia. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index puts on 1.05%. Nvidia adds 0.66%.
Amazon dips 0.15% after replacing Walgreens Boots Alliance as one of the 30 component companies of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Walgreens dropped 3.41%.
Energy is the pick of the only three sectors to advance, gaining 0.32% following a rebound in crude prices. Also modestly positive are tech and consumer discretionary. The night's biggest drags are rate-sensitive utilities and real estate, plus communication services, which falls 1.77% after Google withdraws its Gemini AI tool to fix issues with depictions of historical figures.
Iron ore slides to a four-month low as heavy rain and snow delay construction work in China, undermining demand for steel. Ore inventories at Chinese ports expanded 2.1% last week, according to Steelhome. China-traded ore slumps 3.2% to a level last seen in late October. Singapore ore loses 3.4%, also trading at four-month lows.
A rising greenback weighed on the prices of dollar-denominated commodities. Copper declined 1.38% following an uptick in Chinese inventories and soft post-Lunar New Year holiday demand, according to Shanghai Metals Market. Nickel's recent run of gains stalled with a setback of 2.31%.
