Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Mildly negative as weakness in select commodities and dips in the Dow and S&P 500 offset a record close for the Nasdaq.
ASX futures: down 17 points or 0.22%
Friday themes:
The Nasdaq closed at a fifth straight record as megacap tech stocks continued to outstrip cyclical and defensive stocks in the US.
The S&P 500's four-session win run ended with a fall of 0.04% as eight of eleven sectors declined. Tech, communication services (Alphabet, Meta, Netflix) and consumer staples were the session's only advancing sectors.
Cyclical stocks underperformed after a University of Michigan survey showed American consumers were more pessimistic than economists forecast. The consumer sentiment index declined to 65.6 this month from 69.1 in May, according to a preliminary reading. Economists had predicted a lift in sentiment to 71.5.
The worst-performing sectors were industrials -1.03%, materials -0.94% and energy -0.83%.
The Nasdaq firmed 0.12% to a new closing high after Adobe's Q2 result smashed analysts' expectations.
The Dow eased 0.15% as industrials continued to underperform. The blue-chip average lost 0.5% for the week, trailling gains of 1.6% for the S&P 500 and 3.2% for the high-flying Nasdaq.
Also notably weak on Friday: small caps. The Russell 2000 shed 1.61%.
"You've had a big rally this week, led by big-cap tech. Under the surface, we have a lot of areas acting weak" - Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments (per Reuters).
Copper prices continued to fall as inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses reached a four-year high. Inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses in Asia have increased 22% in a month as producers took advantage of soaring prices. Benchmark copper declined 0.54% in London.
Iron ore rallied for a second day in China, paring its loss for the week. Benchmark prices bounced 1.97% on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. For the week, benchmark prices dropped 1.7%.
The RBA meets today for the start of a two-day meeting that culminates with a revised rates statement tomorrow afternoon. The central bank is expected to leave the cash rate target on hold at 4.35%.
US trade is interrupted mid-week by the Juneteenth national holiday on Wednesday.
Key events this week:
China industrial production, retail sales - 12 pm AEST
RBA interest rate decision - Tuesday
US retail sales - Tuesday
US market holiday - Wednesday
Manufacturing/services PMIs - Friday
US manufacturing/services PMIs - Friday
S&P 500: down 2 points or 0.04%
Dow: down 58 points or 0.15%
Nasdaq: up 21 points or 0.12%
Dollar: up 0.11% to 66.15 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): up 1.97% to US$114.06
Brent crude: down 13 US cents or 0.16% to US$82.62
Natural gas (US futures): down 2.64% to US$2.88
Gold: up US$31.10 or 1.34% to US$2,349.10
Silver: up 64 US cents or 2.2% to US$29.55
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 0.82%
Bitcoin: up 0.71% to US$66,474
Copper (LME): down 0.54% to US$9,741.50
Nickel (LME): down 0.4% to US$17.575
Uranium (spot price): up 0.58% to US$86
Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.86% to US$13,566
