Wall St closed higher on Monday as big tech names and chip stocks posted strong results. The S&P 500 finished the day 0.58% higher, the tech heavy Nasdaq followed suit posting a 1.05% gain, and the Dow Jones closed marginally higher by 0.07%.

Software company Nvidia ended the day 7.1% higher, rebounding from an 8.5% sell off last week. This was further boosted with Morgan Stanley touting Nvidia as a ‘top pick ahead of earnings’.

Over in Europe, there was a mixed reaction in markets after several down sessions last week. The Stoxx 600 closed marginally higher by 0.1% with retail stocks and financial services leading the way. The German DAX finished the day up 0.46% and the French CAC also finished the day 0.12% higher. However the FTSE 100 ended Monday 0.23% lower.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 ended the first trading session of the week down 0.86% as a sharp sell-off in materials stocks weighed on the key index. The communications services, energy and info tech sectors were the only sectors to close higher on Monday. 

Lake Resources led the winning stocks on Monday, jumping 7.7% while Carsales.com added 7% on strong FY23 results. Syrah Resources and Elders fell 6.85% and 6.10% respectively yesterday.

What to watch today: 

• The Australian share market is set to open flat this morning.
• In terms of economic data, the RBA minutes meeting will be released today at 11:30am AEST.
• On the commodities front this morning, crude oil is down 0.88% to US$82.45 a barrel. Gold is down 0.33% to US$1907 an ounce after mounting pressures from a strong dollar and iron ore is up 1.93% to US$105.50 a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) with a 12-month price target of $2. Beach Energy has a strong fully funded growth outlook diversified across five energy basins and four separate gas markets. The company is also rolling off peak capex into a step change in production and expects free cash flow in FY25-26.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal in Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $12.85 to the range of $13.70-13.90 over a pattern formed in 53 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.