US equity markets opened February on a firmer footing despite fresh falls on metals markets and as investors continued to ponder President Trump’s nomination for the next Chair of the Federal Reserve - Dow rose +515-points or +1.05%. Caterpillar Inc (+5.1%), Walmart Inc (+4.13%) and Apple Inc (4.06%) all rallied over >4%. Nvidia Corp dropped -2.89% after The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing people familiar with the matter, that the chipmaking giant’s plans to pour US$100B into OpenAI had stalled, with company executives expressing doubt about the deal.