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In the US, Wall Street advanced overnight, with all 3 of the key indexes in the green. The Dow Jones ended the day 0.25% higher, the S&P500 gained 0.21%, while the tech heavy nasdaq was the biggest winner, advancing 0.45% – mainly driven by a solid start to the week from giants Nvidia and Microsoft.

Europe also saw gains overnight – the stoxx600 closed 0.52% higher, the FTSE gained 0.14%, the French CAC saw a 0.78% increase, while the German Dax took the biggest step, ending the day up 0.89%.

Locally yesterday, the September sell-down continued as the ASX200 fell another 0.24% to open the new trading week. With 8 of the 11 key sectors in the red, information technology was one of the few areas gaining any traction, driven by a 6% rally for Life360 (ASX:360), and a 1.9% jump for Wisetech Global (ASX:WTC).

What to watch today:

• Looking ahead to today, despite the rally overseas the ASX is set to fall further, with SPI futures indicating a 0.35% decline at the open.
• In commodities, Gold remains the biggest story as it hit a fresh all time high on Monday crossing the $3600 US dollars per ounce threshold for the first time. It is currently trading up 1.15%, at 3634 us dollars and 10 cents per ounce. Demand for gold continues to grow primarily from the economic data coming out of the US – as data showed that unemployment has reached its highest level since 2021, while fewer jobs than expected were added in August.
• Crude oil is also trading higher, up 0.9% to 62 us dollars and 43 cents per barrel, while iron ore is trading 0.42% higher at 104 us dollars and 93 cents per tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has placed a speculative buy rating on biotechnology company PYC Therapeutics (ASX:PYC), with a target price of $2.30 per share. At the current share price of $1.25 per share, this implies a 12 month return of nearly 85%.
• Bell Potter has maintained their hold rating on Solvar Limited (ASX:SVR), with the 12 month price target of $1.70 implying just a 3% growth on the current share price of $1.65 per share.