Good morning team, Chris Conway your Chief Market and Trading Strategist here with your First Look.

SPI futures are pointing to a modest gain on the open this morning, following a night that saw US stocks finished slightly weaker on Wall Street.

Rising tensions between the US and North Korea has traders on edge, but most of the negativity was felt in Europe, rather than on The Street.

On the earnings front, there are reports scheduled today from AGL Energy, AMP, Aventus Retail Property Fund, Orora and Virgin Australia.

What’s on today:

Earnings and other corporate moves: AGL, AMP, AVN, MFG, ORA and VAH; Rio trades Ex-Div

Local data: Consumer inflation expectations August; RBNZ policy decision

Overseas data: Japan machine orders June; UK industrial production June, Trade balance June; US PPI final demand July, Fed speaker: Dudley

Key numbers:

SPI futures up 8 points (+0.1%) to 5705

AUD -0.3% to 78.88 US cents

On Wall St, Dow -0.2%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq -0.3%

US markets pared losses into the close

In New York, BHP -0.3%, Rio -0.1%

In Europe, Stoxx 50 -1.3%, FTSE -0.6%, CAC -1.4%, DAX -1.1%

Spot gold +1.2% to $US1275.83 an ounce

Brent crude +0.8% to $US52.58 a barrel

Iron ore flat at $US75.46 a tonne

Dalian iron ore -0.7% to 555 yuan

Steam coal +1.2% to $US95.20, Met coal -0.3% to $US193.50

LME aluminium -0.1% to $US2027.50 a tonne

LME copper -0.4% to $US6455 a tonne

10-year bond yield: US 2.24%, Germany 0.42%, Australia 2.64%

What happened overnight: