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Kicking off in the US, Wall St extended its gains overnight after new jobs data was released which further increased the likelihood of a Fed rate cut next week. The S&P 500 gained 0.5%, the Nasdaq gained 0.4%, while the Dow Jones index added 1%.

Europe saw a mixed day on the markets – the broader Stoxx600 added 0.1%, as a 0.2% gain for the French CAC was offset by a 0.1% drop for both the FTSE and German DAX. And in Asia, the Chinese CSI saw a 0.5% drop, the Hang Seng fell 1.3%. while the Japanese Nikkei added 1.1%.

Locally yesterday, the ASX 200 closed up 0.2%, with 8 of the 11 key sectors in the green. The biggest story on the day was the release of GDP data, where it was announced that the economy had expanded by just 0.4%, below market consensus.

What to watch today:

• Looking ahead to today, the ASX 200 is expected to continue its winning streak, with the SPI futures indicating a 0.24% rise at the open of trade.
• Investors should also keep an eye on the balance of trade data, which is due at 11:30am Sydney time.
• Moving over to commodities:
  • Crude oil is trading up 0.8% at US$59.11 per barrel.
  • Precious metals remain steady – gold is up less than 0.1% to US$4208 per ounce, while silver is up just over 0.1% to US$58.50.
  • Meanwhile iron ore is trading up another 0.4% at US$107.7 per tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a speculative Buy rating on red hot medical stock 4D Medical (ASX:4DX), and upgraded its 12 month target price to $2.50 per share after they announced a major upgrade to their commercialization agreement with Phillips in the US and Canada yesterday.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Telstra (ASX:TLS), indicating that the price may rise from the close of $4.91 per share to the range of $5.26 to $5.34 per share over a period of 119 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.