Day trading pre-market open September 1

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

Outlook for the day: Negative for the start of a new month following a mixed close on Wall Street.

ASX futures: down 38 points or 0.52%

Overnight themes:

• Wall Street's main indices finish mixed on the last session of a losing month after the Federal Reserve's favourite inflation measure lands in line with expectations.
• The Nasdaq's fifth straight gain trims its monthly loss to 2.17%. The S&P 500 fades to a monthly deficit of 1.77%. The Dow ends August down 2.36%.
• Treasury yields are little changed after the personal consumption expenditures index rises 0.2% in July, as predicted by economists. The increase lifts the annual gain to 3.3% from 3% in June. Core annual inflation edges up to 4.2% from 4.1%.
• The odds on a rates pause this month stay broadly steady at 88.5%.
• “The PCE report released today revealed no major significant acceleration in inflation, which the Fed will view positively... Given the continued strength in the labor market and the fact that the economy is still growing above trend, the Fed will view inflation as cooling but not sufficiently cool” - George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Private Bank.
• Energy and growth sectors outperform, but gains are modest. Tech gains 0.37%, energy 0.15%. Defensive sectors weigh: health -1.21%, utilities -1.03% and real estate -0.76%.
• A strengthening US dollar weighs on precious metals and other dollar-denominated commodity prices. Gold ends with a monthly loss of more than 2%.
• A improvement in Chinese factory activity lifts iron ore to a five-week high. China futures gain 3.54% after the nation's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index rises to 49.7 from 49.3 this month, beating forecasts.
• Oil rises for a third month, supported by Saudi production cuts. Brent crude gains 1.5% across August.

Key events today:

• US August employment report - tonight

S&P 500: down 7 points or 0.16%

Dow: down 168 points or 0.48%

Nasdaq: up 16 points or 0.11%

Dollar: up 0.06% to 64.83 US cents

Iron ore (Dalian): up 3.54% to US$116.47

Brent crude: up US$1 or 1.2% to US$86.86

Gold: down US$7.10 or 0.4% to US$1,965.90

NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 1.13%

Copper (LME): down 0.42% to US$8,437

Nickel (LME): down 1.38% to US$20,350

Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 1.19% to US$28,965

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 0.22%

BHP: down 0.45% (US); up 0.26% (UK)

Rio Tinto: down 0.4% (US); up 0.42% (UK)