Company Interview / the open: miners expected to drive the ASX higher, again

The local market is set for a positive opening with ASX futures up 0.4%. On Wall Street, the Dow gained while the Nasdaq lost ground and the S&P 500 edged higher ahead of highly anticipated earnings results from Alphabet and Tesla, in which both tech giants climbed. 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he will meet his Chinese counterpart next week to discuss an anticipated extension of an August 12th tariff deadline. The worst case scenario is that tariffs on Chinese exports to the US will snap back to 145% and 125% on US exports to China. 

The US dollar has continued its slide particularly against the Yen, meanwhile the Australian dollar has climbed back above US65.5c. 

On the corporate front, quarterly updates are expected from Iluka Resources, Northern Star, Paladin, Woodside and Westgold.