Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Positive ahead of this afternoon's Reserve Bank interest rate announcement. The ASX 200 will shoot for a fourth straight gain for the first time since February.
ASX futures: up 38 points or 0.49%
Overnight themes:
US stocks rallied for a third session as traders bet that Friday's soft April employment data relieved pressure on the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at elevated levels.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.03%. Tech stocks led as the Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.19%. The Dow's 0.46% advance was the blue-chip average's fourth in a row.
A mid-session fade was arrested by positive news from the Middle East. Stocks turned higher again after Hamas said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to halt hostilities with Israel.
The overnight action built on last week's gains, which followed news that the US economy created fewer jobs last month than economists anticipated and the Federal Reserve thought another rate hike was unlikely. Overnight, Fed official Thomas Barkin said he was "optimistic" that current monetary policy settings would get inflation back down to target level.
“It’s good that we’re getting some sort of a continuation, because it seems as if the market is saying that the pullback is over and we’ll just work our way back up” - CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall (per CNBC).
Financial markets have priced in rate cuts of 46 basis points before year-end, according to LSEG's rate probability app. The first cut was expected in September or November.
Chip-makers continued to recover from recent weakness. Nvidia tacked on 3.77%, Arm Holdings 5.19% and Super Micro Computer 6.09%.
At a sector level, tech advanced 1.48%, communication services 1.39% and financials 1.17%. Real estate was the only sector to miss the uplift, easing 0.02%.
Iron ore rose as trade resumed after China's Labour Day holidays. Benchmark prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed 2.06% to US$123.51 a metric ton. Buyers were encouraged by a government plan to help developers clear housing inventory.
"The sales of housing inventory will provide substantial help to property developers facing capital strains” - analysts at China Galaxy Securities (per Reuters).
Oil logged its first advance in six sessions as Israel progressed plans to invade Rafah, despite reports that Hamas has accepted a ceasefire proposal. Brent crude put on 0.5%.
Key events today:
RBA cash rate announcement - 2.30 pm AEST
RBA press conference - 3.30 pm
S&P 500: up 53 points or 1.03%
Dow: up 177 points or 0.46%
Nasdaq: up 193 points or 1.19%
Dollar: up 0.24% to 66.24 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): 2.06% to US$123.51.
Brent crude: up 37 US cents or 0.5% to US$83.33
Gold: up US$22.60 or 0.98% to US$2,331.20
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: up 2.19%
Bitcoin: up 0.43% to US$63,464
Copper (LME closed for UK holiday): last price US$9,914
Nickel (LME closed for UK holiday): last price US$19,240
Uranium (spot price): up 2.16% to US$93
Lithium carbonate (China spot): up 0.08% to US$15,489
