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

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

House-keeping: my lithium price source is on the blink. Any recommendations for an alternative?


Outlook for the day: Negative for a third session following Wall Street's worst week since April and down-pressure on key commodities.

ASX futures: down 67 points or 0.84%


Friday/weekend themes:

• US stocks fell as a global software outage added to a fragile market mood following a sharp mid-week reversal from all-time highs.
• The S&P 500 fell 0.71% to a third straight loss. Resource, tech and banking stocks led the retreat.
• The Dow skidded 0.93% or almost 380 points.
• The Nasdaq gave up 0.81% as chip stocks dragged.
• Crowdstrike tumbled 11.1% after a faulty software upgrade caused Microsoft's Windows operating system to crash, affecting multiple industries around the globe. Shares in rival cybersecurity firms Pal Alto Networks and SentinelOne rallied.
• "This tech outage adds some uncertainty and puts pressure on the overall Nasdaq. But it won’t have much of an overall impact... They're sitting on the sidelines. That's what happens to the stock market when volatility rules the day" - Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
• The CBOE volatility index or VIX climbed to its highest since late April following three days of market losses.
• The defensive health and utilities sectors offered a haven. Energy, tech and financials took the biggest hit, all losing at least 1%.
• The S&P 500 lost 1.97% for the week, the index's worst performance since April. The Nasdaq gave up 3.65% as investors rotated out of tech into small caps and value stocks. That rotation helped the Dow gain 0.72% for the week and the Russell 2000 index of small caps 1.68%.
• Copper slid to a three-month low after China's long-awaited Third Plenum ended without any significant concrete measures to stimulate the economy. Iron ore and other industrial metals also declined. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.81% to US$9,310 a metric ton, a level last seen in April. Copper prices fell more than 5.5% last week, the metal's worst weekly performance since August 2022. Nickel hit a five-month low. Iron ore extended its loss for the week to 2.54% with a drop of 0.19% on Friday in China.
• Gold suffered its biggest reversal in more than a month after hitting an all-time high last week. Gold for August delivery slid 2.3% to US $2,399.10 an ounce, finishing 0.9% lower for the week. Futures hit US$2,488.40 on Wednesday.
• “Seems harsh, [but] it’s fairly typical behaviour for a market that’s being driven… largely by Western investor speculation” - Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, (per MarketWatch).
• Oil sank to a five-week low as a lack of stimulus action out of China added to demand worries. Data earlier last week showed the Chinese economy grew slower than economist expected last quarter. Brent crude declined US$2.48 or 2.9% to US$82.63 a barrel.
• In breaking news this morning, President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, as the Democrat candidate.
• "I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.

Key events this week:

• Quarterly trading updates - all week
• US quarterly trading updates - all week
• US home sales - Tuesday
• Flash manufacturing, services PMIs - Wednesday
• US flash manufacturing, services PMIs - Wednesday
• US GDP - Thursday
• US durable goods - Thursday
• US inflation (PCE) - Friday

S&P 500: down 40 points or 0.71%

Dow: down 377 points or 0.93%

Nasdaq: down 144 points or 0.81%

Dollar: up 0.08% to 66.87 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.19% to US$110.72

Brent crude: down US$2.48 or 2.9% to US$82.63

Gold: down US$57.30 or 2.3% to US$2,399.10

Silver: down 92 US cents or 3.04% to US$29.30

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 1.2%

Bitcoin: up 1.18% to US$67,850

Copper (LME): down 0.81% to US$9,310

Nickel (LME): down 1.02% to US$16,256

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 0.22%

Uranium (spot): down 0.83% to US$84.25

BHP: down 0.84% (US); down 1.15% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 0.92% (US); down 1.76% (UK)