On Wall Street overnight the S&P 500 notched another fresh record high ending the day up 0.05%, while the Nasdaq added 0.4% and the Dow Jones underperformed the market with a decline of 0.17%. Key US jobs data also out overnight indicated there were more job openings in October than September with 7.74 million openings which topped Dow Jones estimates of 7.5 million, indicating the labour market is cooling.

In Europe overnight markets closed mostly higher as investors assessed political instability in France. The STOXX 600 rose 0.44%, Germany’s DAX added 0.42%, the French CAC rose 0.3% which was a pullback from earlier gains following France’s PM Michael Barnier turning to special constitutional powers to pass a contested budget bill without parliamentary vote. And, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.56%.

Across the Asia markets on Tuesday, it was a green finish as markets in the region tracked record closes for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the US on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.22% on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1%, South Korea’s Kospi index added 1.71%, and China’s CSI index added 0.11%.

The ASX rose 0.6% on Tuesday setting a third record high in the past week and boosting the key index over 8500 for the first time in history during the day. The year-to-date gains for the ASX have now risen to almost 12% buoyed by the strong tech rally this year which has propelled the tech sector up 58% year-to-date. KFC Australia operator Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) lagged the market gains yesterday with a loss over 4% after the company revised FY25 earnings guidance downwards amid a challenging consumer market and sticky inflationary pressures. Zip Co (ASX:ZIP) shares also fell 0.6% after co-founder Larry Diamond sold $100m worth of shares in the buy now, pay later company a day after he resigned from the board to focus on family and philanthropic ventures.

What to watch today:

• Australia’s retail sales data for October released on Monday showed that despite the high cost-of-living environment, Aussies are still spending with retail sales up 3.4% in October compared to a year earlier. Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway services recorded a rise of 2.3% while ‘other retailing’ which includes cosmetics, sport and recreational goods’ rose a significant 8.4%. This rise in retail spend adds to the RBA’s inflation journey headache as retail spend is a key driver of inflation remaining sticky in Australia.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading almost 3% higher at US$70.15/barrel, gold is up 0.12% at US$2645/ounce and iron ore is up 2.81% at US$105.32/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has slightly weakened overnight to buy US$65.11, 96.88 Japanese Yen, 51.14 British Pence and NZ$1.10.
• Ahead of the midweek trading session in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.35%.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has initiated coverage of Fenix Resources (ASX:FEX) with a buy rating and a price target of 41cps as the analyst sees the WA-based mining company’s portfolio of low-capital mining assets and integrated logistics networks should continue to underpin robust cash flows, funding growth expenditure and shareholder returns.
• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Nick Scali (ASX:NCK) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 24-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $14.47 to the range of $15.40 to $15.60 according to standard principles of technical analysis.