Day trading pre-market open October 26

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


Outlook for the day: Negative as traders balance heavy falls on Wall Street against a five-week high in iron ore following fresh Chinese stimulus measures.

ASX futures: down 18 points or 0.26%


Overnight themes:

• US stocks slump as oil and treasury yields rally, and investors dump market-leading megacaps following a disappointing outlook from Google parent company Alphabet.
• The Nasdaq enters a technical correction following its heaviest loss since February. The S&P 500 closes at its weakest since May. The tech-lite Dow avoids the worst of the carnage.
• Alphabet dives 9.51% as a slowdown in cloud-computing revives fears that the economy is losing momentum. The firm's Chief Financial Officer implies customers were cutting back on spending. The news overshadows strength in other parts of the business and a positive result from Microsoft, which gains 3.07%.
• Other tech names plunge following weak results from Texas Instruments and European fintech Worldline. Block (Afterpay) sheds 7.96%, Atlassian 6.3%, Amazon 5.58% and Nvidia 4.31%.
• Treasury yields push back towards multi-year highs as mortgage rates touch levels last seen in 2000. The yield on 10-year US treasuries was lately trading at 4.953%, within touching distance of last week's 16-year high of 5.01%. The rally follows a seventh straight weekly increase in US mortgage rates.
• "The dominant themes of the day are disappointment with tech earnings and rising interest rates. Rates continue to be a huge overhang on the market as they should be" - Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap.
• The communication services sector plunges 5.89% as Alphabet weighs. Rate-sensitive property stocks shed 2.07%. Demand for havens lifts utilities and consumer staples.
• Iron ore climbs to a five-week high after China's parliament approves the issue of US$137 billion in sovereign bonds to supercharge the economy. Steel and coal prices also rise. Industrial metals mostly retreat after front-running the announcement.
• Crude oil rallies for the first time in four sessions. Brent crude settles back above US$90 a barrel.

Key events today:

• Address by Fed Chair Powell - 7.35 am AEDT
• Testimony by RBA Governor Bullock before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee - 9 am AEDT
• US GDP, durable goods - tonight
• European Central Bank interest rate decision - tonight

S&P 500: down 61 points or 1.43%

Dow: down 105 points or 0.32%

Nasdaq: down 319 points or 2.43%

Dollar: down 0.8% to 63.09 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 3.3% to US$119.22

Brent crude: up US$2.06 or 2.34% to US$90.13

Gold: up US$8.80 or 0.44% to US$1,994.90

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 1.47%

Copper (LME): down 0.83% to US$7,984.50

Nickel (LME): down 0.76% to US$18,205

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.59% to US$23,543

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 2.77%

BHP: up 0.8% (US); up 2.24% (UK)

Rio Tinto: up 1.11% (US); up 1.92% (UK)