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Wall St closed higher overnight as a surge in the tech stocks, powered major averages into positive territory. The Dow Jones finished off the trading day strong gaining 0.54%, the S&P 500 finished 0.88% in the green and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 1.35%.

In terms of US shares, Apple added 3.4% following Bank of America upgrading the stock to a buy with a ‘20% upside over the next 12 months’. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund also reached an all time high, jumping 1.9%.

The 10-year treasury yield held around the 4.15% level on Thursday following fresh jobs data showing ongoing tightness in the US labour market.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher as investors further consume news and comments from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The STOXX600 closed 0.57% higher, rebounding following three previous, negative sessions with travel stocks gaining 5%. Germany’s DAX ended the trading day 0.83% in the green, the French CAC gained 1.13% and over in the UK the FTSE 100 rallied 0.17%.

Locally yesterday, the Australian market fell 0.63% with the real estate sector losing over 2% and the industrial and materials sectors losing over 1%. This was slightly offset by the consumer discretionary sector which gained 0.3% yesterday.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI future suggesting a rise of 0.90% at the open this morning.
• On the commodity front this morning,
  • Oil is up 2.22% to US$74.17 a barrel, following the continued geopolitical risk in the Middle East and output problems in the US helping drive up the price.
  • Gold is up 0.81% to US$2021.73 an ounce and iron ore is down 1.53% to US$128.50 a tonne following the uncertain demand for construction materials in China.

Trading Ideas:

• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on SG Fleet Group (ASX:SGF), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.30 to the range of $2.76-$2.86 on a pattern formed over 73 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Diversified United Investment (ASX:DUI), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $4.92 to the range of $4.80-$4.82 on a pattern formed over 22 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.