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Wall St closed higher overnight as the S&P closed at a record for the second day in a row. The Dow Jones gained 0.16%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.07% and the S&P500 jumped 0.24%.

Over in Europe, markets plummeted on Wednesday as earnings season results disappoint investors. The STOXX600 fell 0.9%, pulling from the all time high set in Tuesday’s trading session. Germany’s DAX dropped 1.8%, the French CAC lost 0.62% and over in the UK, the FTSE100 closed Wednesday’s trading session 1.8% in the red.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 closed 0.73% lower with the majority of sectors closing down. Losses were led by the energy and financial sectors which dropped by 2.35% and 2.01% respectively. This was offset by the utilities sector which gained 0.84% by market close.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.45% at market open this morning.
• In terms of economic news today, Australian unemployment data for January will be released with a forecast of 4%, the same as its previous result.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is trading 0.63% higher at 72 US dollars and 25 cents a barrel, gold is trading flat at 2934 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.08% lower at 106 US dollars and 74 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Ceder Woods Properties (ASX:CWP) with a 12-month price target of $7.20. With a current share price of $5.53, this indicates a share price growth of 25.2% over the next 12-months, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.86 to the range of $3.30-$3.40 on a pattern formed over 105 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.