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Amid tariff negotiations, President Donald Trump has also been making trade deals. With the aim of securing a lower tariff rate, South Korea agreed to purchase $100 billion of liquified natural gas and make $350 billion in investments in the US. The EU has indicated it’ll purchase $750 billion of American energy and Japan will establish a $550 billion fund for investments in the US.

US equities closed Monday’s session with strong gains, rebounding from Friday’s losses. All three US benchmarks were green. The Dow Jones recovered nearly 600 points, closing 1.34% higher, the S&P500 ending a 4-day loosing streak to close 1.47% higher and the tech- heavy Nasdaq advanced 1.95%.

European markets also all closed in the green, with the STOXX600 ending 0.9% higher.

Locally, the Australian market closed slightly higher yesterday, just 0.02%. Materials, consumer staples and utilities were in the lead, while industries, energy and financials dragged down on the market.

What to watch today:

• Australian shares are set to rally this morning. The SPI futures are suggesting a 1% rise at the open, after the S&P500 saw its best performing day since May.
• In economic data, the S&P Global final services Producer Managers Index will be released at 10am AEST.
• And as reporting season kicks off, watch out for earnings reports today from Credit Corp Group (ASX:CCP), Nexgen Energy (ASX:NXG), Pinnacle Investment Management Group (ASX:PNI) and Reckon (ASX:RKN).
• In commodities,
  • Crude oil has dropped 1.5% to US$66.30 per barrel after OPEC+ increased production of 547,000 barrels per day starting in September.
  • Gold has increased 0.36% to US$3,375 an ounce as investors took profits from Friday’s rally which was the metal’s biggest one-day gain in two months.
  • And iron ore is up 1.2% to US$100.77 per tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain a Buy rating on WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) with a $135 12- month price target. WTC’s current share price is $114.31, implying 18.1% share price growth in a year.
• Bell Potter also have a Buy rating on ALS (ASX:ALQ) a global testing, inspection and certification company across several industries. Their 12- month target is $19.70 and at the current share price of $17.82 this implied 10.5% share price growth in a year.