US stocks saw a record-breaking session overnight, with all 3 major indexes closing at new all times highs off the back of cooling US-China tensions and optimism over a trade deal later this week. The S&P 500 advanced 1.23%, the Nasdaq rallied 1.86% - largely bolstered by strong gains for Nvidia and other chip stocks – while the Dow Jones jumped 0.71%.

Similarly, Asian markets saw a large jump, lead by a 1.19% jump for China’s CSI index, and a 2.46% jump for Japan’s Nikkei. Europe also saw gains but to a lesser extent – the Stoxx600 advanced 0.22%, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.28%, the French CAC saw a 0.16% jump, while the FTSE closed 0.09% higher.

Locally yesterday the ASX200 advanced 0.41% - despite 8 of the 11 key sectors in the green, it was slightly weighed down by a 0.63% drop in the healthcare index. It was a tough session too for Rare Earths Miners off the back of optimism that the US and China will come to an agreement to resume normalised Rare Earths trade, cooling off some of the building steam in the sector. Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) saw a 6.87% drop, while Arafura Rare Earths (ASX:ARU) dropped nearly 10%.

What to watch today:

• In commodities, Gold has continued its recent retreat, down another 3.18% to 3981 US dollars per ounce, meaning it is now down nearly 9% over the last week. Crude Oil is trading flat at 61.5 US dollars per barrel, while Iron Ore is up 0.15% to 105 US dollars and 57 cents per tonne. 
• Despite the strong gains in the US overnight, the ASX200 is actually expected to fall at the open this morning, with the SPI futures indicating a 0.43% drop.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained its buy rating on Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA) with a 12 month target price of $7 per share. At the current closing price of $5.34 per share, that implies a 24% share price growth over the next year based on current earnings estimates and guidance.
• And Trading Central have identified a Bullish signal in Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR), indicating the share price may rise from the close of $1.63 per share, to the range of $2.10 to $2.25 per share over a period of 41 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.