Wall St closed higher on Monday, ending a 4-day losing streak, with all three major indexes ending the day in the green. The S&P 500 and the tech heavy Nasdaq both finished nearly half a percent higher, whilst the Dow Jones finished marginally higher by 0.13%.

JP Morgan upgraded chemical company Dow which saw it rise 1.7% with Amazon shares also increasing by 1% following an announcement of an investment of $4 billion in artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. Generally speaking, US stocks have struggled in September as the Federal Reserve signaled that higher interest rates are there to stay, therefore sending bond yields higher.

Over in Europe, markets finished lower on Monday following a number of Central Bank rate decisions at the end of last week and the potential of higher interest rates over a long period of time. The STOXX600 ended Monday down 0.6% with nearly all sectors finishing in the red. Travel and leisure stocks led losses by 3%, followed by household goods which lost 2% on Monday. The FTSE 100 ended 0.78% lower, whilst the German DAX and French CAC both closed nearly 1% lower to end the day.

Locally yesterday, the ASX 200 ended the day 0.11% higher led by advances in both the information technology and the communications services sectors up 1.92% and 1.19% respectively. This was slightly offset by the materials sector which retreated 0.73%.

What to watch today: 

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.10% at the open this morning.
• In terms of commodities, 
  • Oil is down 0.20% to 89 US dollars and 85 cents a barrel, as the oil rally stalled last week, following the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain rates. 
  • Gold is down 0.49% to 1915 US dollars an ounce as a strong dollar has a negative effect on the appeal of the metal resource. 
  • And iron ore is up 1.65% to 123 US dollars and 50 cents a tonne, following an increase in production in steel mills in the short run to undercut potential output cuts from the Chinese government.

Trading Ideas: 

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Technology One (ASX:TNE) and has increased its price target by 25 cents to $17.75 with a current share price of $15.26. This recommendation has been upgraded from a hold to a buy as the FY23 results coming out on the 21st of November are expected to be modestly above the guidance and consensus.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal in Baby Bunting Group (ASX:BBN), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.17 to the range of $2.60-$2.70 on a pattern formed over 30 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.