Wall St closed higher overnight as the S&P 500 sets a new record high, climbing 0.24%. The Dow Jones rose just 0.02% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq had a slight rise of 0.07%. The energy sector was the best performing, gaining 1.9% with Halliburton and Valero Energy leading gains.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher as the STOXX600 jumped 0.32% by market close on Tuesday. Germany’s DAX had a gain of 0.2%, the French CAC rallied 0.21% and over in the UK the FTSE100 had a slight fall of 0.01% by the closing bell.

Locally yesterday the ASX had a pullback to start the week, closing Tuesday’s session down 0.66% despite the RBA announcing the nation’s first cash rate cut since November 2020 after 13-hikes to 4.35%. The nations cash rate now drops 25-basis points to 4.1% as the RBA’s journey to tame inflation is working at the same time the elevated rate environment to date has caused a cost-of-living crisis in Australia.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open slightly lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.02% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is trading 0.55% higher at 71 US dollars and 77 cents a barrel after crude exports from Kazakhstan were disrupted after a drone strike hit a Russian pumping station, potentially cutting pipeline flows by 30%.
  • Gold is trading 1.2% higher at 2934 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.06% higher at 106 US dollars and 83 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on HUB24 (ASX:HUB) and has increased its 12-month price target to $93. With a current share price of $84.39, this indicates a share price growth of 10.2% over the next 12-months, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $2.90 to the range of $1.90-$2.10, on a pattern formed over 30 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.