Afternoon trading May 2

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @uncleBuck and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Aussie shares hit a two-month high after China signalled it was open to trade talks with the US, and US stock futures shrugged off poorly-received trading updates from Apple and Amazon.

The ASX 200 rallied 69 points or 0.84% towards a seventh straight gain.

The energy, healthcare, consumer staples and utilities sectors all advanced at least 1.1%. Drags included Afterpay owner Block and Corporate Travel Ltd following trading updates.

Optimism over trade talks was stoked by a post on a Chinese state-backed social media account. "The US has proactively reached out to China through multiple channels, hoping to hold discussions on the tariff issue," Yuyuan Tantian wrote. "Before the US takes any substantive action, China has no need to engage in talks with the US. However, if the US wishes to initiate contact, there is no harm at this stage for China to engage."

US stock futures rose this morning despite after-market selling in index heavyweights Apple and Amazon following quarterly reports. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.73%. Overnight, the index gained 0.63%.


Personal trading: Poor morning's work. Playing zero from two. Took a hit on CPU when the breakout on the 5-min chart failed. Grabbed NAB on retrace, looking for it to bounce mid-morning with the other three - it didn't and those bounces didn't hold. Neither was a big hit thanks to stop losses, but still.