Day trading pre-market open March 5

Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.


Outlook for the day: Mildly negative following a directionless session on Wall Street.

ASX futures: down 3 points or 0.04%


Overnight themes:

• US stocks finished lower as an afternoon rally faded in the final half-hour of trade.
• The S&P 500 hit a new high as Nvidia led another up-leg for chip-makers leveraged to Artificial Intelligence. The Nasdaq also traded in positive territory before rolling over, finishing at an intraday low. The Dow lost almost 100 points.
• The market edged briefly into positive territory as Nvidia climbed 3.6% to a record. News that Super Micro Computer will be added to the S&P 500 this month lifted the chip-maker's shares 18.65%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rallied 1.06%.
• Apple declined 2.54% after the European Union slapped the company with a US$2 billion antitrust fine for beaching EU competition rules via App Store restrictions. The fine was four times larger than analysts expected.
• Catalysts were scarce on the first session of a week that livens up from Wednesday with employment data and congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Powell.
• “Investors are wondering: Should we be taking some profits at this point, or just staying the course? I would tend to say that investors are just sort of sitting on their hands and not really doing anything” - Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research (per CNBC).
• Gold closed at a record for a second session as traders continued to price in interest rate cuts later this year. Gold for April delivery settled US$30.60 or 1.46% higher at US$2,126.30 an ounce. The odds on a June rate cut currently sit at 69%, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
• Rate-sensitive sectors outperformed. The utilities sector rose 1.64%. Real estate added 1.07%. Materials also booked a solid gain, advancing 0.7%.
• Iron ore extended its losing run into a third week, but finished daytime trade well off session lows. The most-traded May ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange finished just 0.11% lower after being down around 2% at the Australian market close. Prices have fallen amid weak demand signals and scepticism that this week's National People's Congress will deliver meaningful stimulus to address a festering property slump.
• Bitcoin draws within about 2% of an all-time high as a buying frenzy continued ahead of a "halving event" on April 20. The cryptocurrency reached US$67,542.30 overnight. The coin's all-time high was US$68,900 in late 2021.

Key events today:

• Q2 current account - 11.30 am AEDT
• China services PMI - 12.45 pm
• US services PMI - tonight

S&P 500: down 6 points or 0.12%

Dow: down 98 points or 0.25%

Nasdaq: down 67 points or 0.41%

Dollar: down 0.28% to 65.09 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): down 0.11% to US$123.63

Brent crude: down 75 US cents or 0.9% to US$82.80

Gold: up US$30.60 or 1.46% to US$2,126.30

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 4.47%

Bitcoin: up 7.01% to US$67,1978

Copper (LME): up 0.25% to US$8,525

Nickel (LME): up 1.1% to US$17,951

Uranium (spot price): up 0.21% to US$94.50

Lithium carbonate (China spot): up 3.34% to US$14,713

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 2.99%

BHP: down 0.45% (US); down 0.76% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 0.45% (US); down 0.72% (UK)