Wall St closed higher overnight as Nvidia shares led a turnaround on tech stocks and the S&P500 rose in its best day since early June. The Dow Jones gained 0.32%, the S&P 500 advanced over 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 1.58%.

In terms of US shares, Nvidia soared by 4.8% following their 8% decline last week. Other tech stocks including Alphabet and Meta also gained more than 2% each.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher as they react to the news that Joe Biden has dropped out of the US presidential race. The STOXX600 closed 1% higher with the majority of sectors finishing in the green. The only stocks which closed lower on Monday were travel and leisure and retail stocks which fell 2.33% and 0.03% respectively. Germany’s DAX rose 1.29%, the French CAC rallied by 1.16% and over in the UK, the FTSE100 ended Monday’s trading session 0.53% higher.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 closed half a percent lower with the vast majority of sectors closing in the red. Losses were led by the energy and materials sectors which fell 1.62% and 0.86% respectively. This was slightly offset by the consumer staples sector which rose 0.65% by the closing bell.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.70% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
   
  • Oil is trading 0.52% lower at US$78.23/barrel, following renewed optimism for a ceasefire in Gaza which could as a result increase global oil supply. 
  • Gold is trading 0.02% higher at US$2395/ounce and iron ore is trading 0.26% lower at US$108.45/tonne. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Universal Store Holdings (ASX:UNI) and has increased its 12-month price target to $6.65. The buy rating is maintained by Bell Potter due to the company’s store roll-out & brand growth strategy, gross margin expansion via private label product penetration and earnings trajectory through to FY25 and FY26.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal in Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $0.50 to the range of $0.44-$0.46, on a pattern formed over 41 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.