Day trading pre-market open July 23

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


Outlook for the day: Positive following strong gains in a range of commodities and another record close for the S&P 500.

ASX futures: up 40 points or 0.46%


Overnight themes:

• The S&P 500 inched to a new closing high during a mixed US session as investors weighed the latest corporate earnings and trade deal news.
• The broadest of the three major US stock benchmarks edged up 0.06% to its 11th record close of 2025. The Dow shrugged off tech weakness to advance 179 points or 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite eased 0.39% after a Wall Street Journal report on difficulties in a major AI project weighed on chip stocks.
• The night's earnings updates included several high-profile prangs. General Motors skidded 8.12% after tariffs helped strip US$1 billion from its quarterly earnings. An 80% plunge in profit knocked 10.81% off defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin. A revenue miss dragged tobacco company Philip Morris down 8.43%. The current reporting season hits its stride tonight with updates from Alphabet and Tesla. Both rallied overnight, gaining 0.5% and 1.1%, respectively.
• “This market’s pretty stalled out,” Jay Hatfield, CEO at Infrastructure Capital Advisors, told CNBC. “We are going to need to have very strong tech earnings to propel the market much higher.”
• Chip stocks fell after the WSJ reported struggles at a high-profile collaboration between Japan's SoftBank and OpenAI. The report said the project had been dramatically scaled back, raising questions about ambitious expectations for demand for AI chips. Nvidia, Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing all declined.
• Trade deals remained scarce ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline. Overnight, Trump said his administration had concluded a deal with the Philippines with a tariff of 19% on imports to the US. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would likely extend the August 12 deadline to secure a deal with China. Deals with India and the European Union remained elusive, with hopes for both reportedly diminishing.
• Tech was the night's only significant sector drag, falling 1.08%. The night's best performers were health +1.9%, real estate +1.78% and utilities +1.29%. The two sectors with the biggest weighting on the ASX - materials and financials - gained 1.28% and 0.55%, respectively.
• ASX mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto rose in overseas trade after iron ore posted a fifth straight gain in China. Benchmark iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trade 2.49% ahead at US$114.72 a metric ton. Ore prices rallied this week after Beijing announced plans to build a mega-dam in Tibet. "Iron ore futures extended recent gains amid prospects of additional stimulus measures, with Beijing's announcement of the $170 billion hydropower project promising to deliver a positive economic boost for steel," ANZ analysts said in a note. Steel and coal prices also rallied. BHP's overseas listings put on 3.54% in the US and 1.48% in the UK. Rio's gains were 3.67% (US) and 2.25% (UK).
• A retreat in treasury yields and uncertainty over next week's US tariff deadline helped power gold to a five-week high. The yield on benchmark US government bonds eased overnight to its lowest in two weeks. Spot gold was lately up US$31.73 or 0.93% to US$3,430.59 an ounce. Earlier, US gold futures settled US$37.30 or 1.1% ahead at US$3,443.70. "Trade uncertainty is prompting some safe haven demand. The U.S. has got several trade deals in the works and there's rumors that the EU and the U.S. might not be able to come to an agreement or certainly are not anywhere close yet," Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at **promotion blocked** Metals, told Reuters.
• A recent revival in interest in rare earths and lithium accelerated overnight with a fund of US miners surging to its highest this year. The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF jumped 3.32% to a level last traded in mid-December. The latest up-leg came after battery-grade lithium carbonate rallied 1.72% yesterday in China. Lithium prices hit a three-month high last week after Chinese local government halted production at a subsidiary of domestic giant Zijin Mining's Qinghai brine lithium project. The price of lithium, used extensively in batteries, had collapsed more than 90% in recent years due to a huge overhang of supply.
• US copper futures settled at a new high ahead of the introduction next week of a 50% tariff on copper imports to the US. The most-actively traded contract on Comex hit US$5.7655 a pound overnight and was lately trading 2.06% ahead at US$5.753. Prices have surged more than 40% in the US this year. Action on the London Metal Exchange was more restrained: benchmark copper edged up 0.39% to a two-week high, trading lately at US$9,898 a metric ton. Aluminium touched an eight-month high in Shanghai. LME aluminium firmed 0.34% to its highest since March.

Key events today:

• Quarterly reports: Woodside Energy, Paladin Energy, Strike Energy, Iluka Resources, Westgold Resources (source: CommSec)
• US earnings season: Alphabet, Tesla, IBM tonight

S&P 500: up 4 points or 0.06%

Dow: up 179 points or 0.4%

Nasdaq: down 81 points or 0.39%

VIX: down 0.9% to 16.5

US 10-year treasury yield: down 3.4 points to 4.35%

Dollar: up 0.44% to 65.56 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 2.49% to US$114.72

Brent crude: down 62 US cents or 0.9% to US$68.59

Gold (futures): up US$37.30 or 1.1% to US$3,443.70

Gold (spot): up US$31.73 or 0.93% to US$3,430.59

Silver (spot): up 37 US cents or 0.95% to US$39.29

Palladium (spot): up US$18.50 or 1.41% to US$1,327

Antimony (China ore): up 0.1% to US$19,820

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 3.1%

Bitcoin: up 2.28% to US$119,747

Copper (LME): up 0.39% to US$9,898

Nickel (LME): up 0.13% to US$15,530

Lithium carbonate (China spot battery grade): up 1.72% to 8,507 yuan

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: up 3.32%

Uranium (spot): up 1.74% to US$72.25

Global X Uranium ETF (URA): up 0.2%

BHP: up 3.54% (US); up 1.48% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 3.67% (US); up 2.25% (UK)