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In the US, Wall St saw a mixed session overnight, with the Dow Jones closing up 1.18% to set a fresh record high, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.25% as volatility in the AI sector continues. Nvidia pulled back 2% from yesterday’s rally on news that Japanese investment holding company SoftBank had sold its entire 5.8 billion USD stake in the company. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 also saw gains overnight, adding 0.21%.

In Europe, markets across the continent carried their momentum from yesterday as optimism following the end of the US government shutdown continued. The pan European Stoxx 600 index closed up 1.3%, as the FTSE and French CAC saw gains of over 1%, while the German DAX was slightly behind, only advancing half a percent.

Back home yesterday, despite opening in the green and seeing 8 of the 11 key sectors positive, the ASX 200 declined 0.2% on the day. It was primarily weighed down by the financial sector, where the big story was Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) shares tumbling 6.6%, after the bank reported higher net interest margin and cost pressure than expected.

What to watch today:

• Looking ahead to today’s trading session, the SPI futures indicate that the ASX will open up 0.2%.
• Both gold and silver have continued to rally, bringing them now to a 5% and 8.5% advance on the week so far respectively. Gold is currently trading at 4129USD per ounce, while silver is at 51USD per ounce.
• Crude oil is trading 1.5% higher at nearly 61 USD per barrel, as the US recently announced fresh sanctions on Russian oil along with optimism on the impending end of the government shutdown.
• Iron ore is down 0.4% at 103 UD and 56 cents per tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has upgraded its recommendation on pharmaceutical giant Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) from a hold to a buy, with a 12 month target price of $320 per share, based on its baseline revenue forecast along with the announcement of 3 new major deals in the US.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in pathology services provider Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL), indicating that the price may rise from the close of $2.64 to the range of $2.99 to $3.07 over a period of 12 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.