Day trading pre-market open September 26

Morning traders. Thanks @ttward and lounge lizards.

Overnight round-up and day ahead:

A tentative stock market rebound looks on the cards after US President Donald Trump dangled a trade deal with China, sending US stocks higher.

ASX SPI200 index futures rallied 14 points or 0.2 per cent to 6702, which suggests the benchmark index, the ASX 200, should recoup a portion of yesterday's 39-point loss at today's open. Share markets around the world slumped yesterday after Democrats initiated an impeachment inquiry into a phone call Trump made to Ukraine's president.

Wall Street mounted a partial recovery overnight as trade news overshadowed political machinations. The S&P 500 bounced 18 points or 0.62 per cent after Trump said the US had agreed the first stage of a trade deal with Japan, and that a deal with China could come "sooner than you think". The Dow put on 163 points or 0.61 per cent and the Nasdaq 84 points or 1.05 per cent.

Frazzled nerves on trading floors were soothed by the trade deal with Japan, which opens the doors to $7 billion of US agricultural produce and reduces or scraps tariffs on a range of other US imports. Progress on one front raised hopes that a deal with China may not prove impossible.

Also helping sentiment was the release of a transcript of the phone call between Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, which did not appear to contain a "smoking gun" that might warrant impeachment. While Trump asked Zelensky if he could "look into" political rival Joe Biden and his son, there was no explicit threat to withhold American aid if Zelensky did not comply. Democrats have accused Trump of using the withholding of foreign aid to pressure Ukraine.

The mood was also helped by signs of life in the housing market as loan rates improve. Sales of new homes were stronger last month than economists predicted.

I.T. was the best-performing sector. Nike rose 4.2 per cent to a record high after its quarterly earnings and revenues both beat expectations.

The scale of any ASX rebound today may be capped by declines in US dollar-denominated commodities as the greenback rose sharply. Oil and precious metals lost ground overnight, while iron ore was unchanged.

Oil declined as US domestic inventories rose for a second week and news reports said production at Saudi facilities damaged by drone attack now exceeded output prior to the assault. Brent crude slid 71 cents or 1.1 per cent to $US62.39 a barrel.

Gold suffered its biggest setback in three weeks as the market mood changed to "risk-on". Gold for December delivery settled $27.90 or 1.8 per cent lower at $US1,512.30 an ounce.

BHP's US-listed stock bounced 0.85 per cent and its UK-listed stock rose 1.3 per cent. Rio Tinto recouped 0.93 per cent in both markets. The spot price for iron ore landed in China was flat yesterday at $US89.60 a ton.

A broadly positive session on the London Metal Exchange saw most industrial metals edge higher. Copper gained 0.1 per cent, lead 2.7 per cent, nickel 1 percent, tin 0.2 per cent and zinc 0.5 per cent. Aluminium eased 0.6 per cent.

The surge in the greenback drove the Australian dollar down almost three-quarters of a cent to 67.5 US cents.

The economic calendar thins out towards the end of each month and contains nothing likely to move the market today. Wall Street has final quarterly GDP figures due tonight, but trade and impeachment are likely to remain the dominant themes driving market sentiment.

Breakfast

Today is National Pancake Day. I'm feeling more chipper, so I'm right up for some of that.