Outlook for the day: Neutral/ mildly positive. The ASX will look to hold yesterday's rebound gains after US stocks pare early losses.
ASX futures: up 2 points or 0.03%
Overnight themes:
Wall Street's main indices close little changed ahead of jobs figures tonight that could decide the next move on interest rates.
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq finish just below break-even, but well off session lows as treasury yields continue to pull back from 16-year highs earlier in the week.
Hopes for a continued rates pause are boosted by comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly. She says the recent rise in bond yields had "diminished" the need for the central bank to lift official rates again. Financials markets have "done the work", she added.
"It looks like we're trying to hold here, and the reason is probably because yields have come down somewhat and maybe these comments by Mary Daly may have also helped a little bit" - Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
Investors looking for signs that the labour market is cooling are disappointed by a modest up-tick in claims for unemployment benefits. First-time claims increase by 2,000 last week to 207,000, short of the 210,000 predicted by economists. Weak private payrolls data earlier this week raised hopes that the labour market is losing momentum, easing pressure on the Fed to keep raising rates.
A mixed market sees gains for the real estate sector, health, financials and tech. Consumer staples and materials are the biggest drags, both losing more than 1.2%.
Industrial metals continue to fall amid questions about Chinese growth and the US rates outlook. Copper is on track for its worst week in 11 months after falling more than 4.5% since Monday. Nickel is this year's worst performer, losing 38% so far, according to Reuters.
Oil declines for the fifth time in six sessions.
Gold settles at its lowest since March.
Key events today:
RBA Financial Stability Review - 11.30 am AEDT
US September employment report - tonight
S&P 500: down 6 points or 0.13%
Dow: down 10 points or 0.03%
Nasdaq: down 16 points or 0.12%
Dollar: up 0.69% to 63.72 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): untraded at US$116.64 (China Golden Week holiday - ends today)
Brent crude: down US$1.74 or 2% to US$84.07
Gold: down US$3 or 0.2% to US$1,831.80
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 1.08%
Copper (LME): down 0.76% to US$7,889
Nickel (LME): down 1.42% to US$18,385
Lithium carbonate (China spot): untraded at US$23,538 (China Golden Week holiday - ends today)
Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 2.55% (34-month low)
