Day trading pre-market open July 26

Morning traders. Thanks @ttward and lounge lizards.

Overnight round-up and day ahead:

A record week for Aussie stocks looked set to end on a soft note after dampened expectations for lower rates dragged on European and US markets.

The SPI 200 index futures contract declined 34 points or 0.5 per cent to 6719 as the big two iron ore miners fell in overseas action. Nickel, gold and the dollar all lost ground. Iron ore, oil and copper inched higher.

The ASX 200 yesterday rose 42 points or 0.6 per cent to finish just ten points short of its highest close. The broader All Ordinaries advanced 40 points or 0.6 per cent to a record at 6902.

Investor expectations that easy money will flow from central banks were rattled overnight by strong US economic data and a more measured outlook from the European Central Bank than some traders anticipated. Also weighing on Wall Street were downbeat earning updates from Ford and Tesla, further pain for Boeing and a fall in Facebook shares.

The S&P 500 slipped 16 points or 0.53 per cent. The Dow gave up 129 points or 0.47 per cent, and the Nasdaq 83 points or 1 per cent.

The outlook for next week's US Federal Reserve meeting was muddied by an unexpectedly strong durable goods report. Orders improved by 2 per cent during June, more than twice the analyst consensus. Investors betting that the Fed will cut its key rate fretted that the report means tonight's quarterly GDP figure may be firmer than expected.

Earlier, European stocks retreated in volatile trade after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank had not discussed cutting rates at this week's meeting. The bank left its key rate unchanged but left the door open to future cuts. European stocks initially rose, then fell. The pan-European benchmark, the Stoxx 600, finished 0.56 per cent in the red.

A sell-off of Australia's largest miners continued despite a rebound in iron ore yesterday. BHP's US stock lost 0.4 per cent and its UK stock 0.14 per cent. Rio Tinto gave up 1.33 per cent in the US and 0.67 per cent in the UK. The spot iron ore price at China's Tianjin port bounced $1.90 or 1.7 per cent to $US117 a dry tonne.

Nickel has been this month's standout among industrial metals, but plunged 3.3 per cent on the London Metal Exchange overnight following soft European manufacturing data. The stainless steel ingredient had risen almost 20 per cent in two weeks after Indonesia resurrected plans to impose an export ban. London copper edged up 0.1 per cent and lead 1.4 per cent. Aluminium was unchanged. Tin lost 0.4 per cent and zinc 0.8 per cent.

Gold suffered its biggest setback in three weeks as the changing outlook for rate cuts boosted the US dollar. August gold settled $8.90 or 0.6 per cent weaker at $US1,414.70 an ounce. The Australian dollar dipped four-tenths of a cent to 69.52 US cents as the greenback swung higher in volatile trade.

A relief rally in oil largely ran out of puff by the close. Brent crude settled 21 cents or 0.3 per cent ahead at $US63.39 a barrel as global growth concerns dampened earlier buying interest.

Some heavyweight US companies reported earnings following the close of regular trade this morning. Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet, Intel and Aussie tech leader Atlassian all delivered quarterly updates. In recent action, Amazon was down 2.2 per cent, Alphabet up 9 per cent, Intel up 5.7 per cent and Atlassian up 0.4 per cent. Wall Street has more corporate earnings scheduled tonight, plus quarterly GDP figures.

Breakfast

Today is National Bagelfest Day. Yes, please.