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In the US today on Wednesday the Trump 2.0 fuelled rally extended into the midweek session, sending the S&P500 to a fresh all-time high, up 0.61%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq ended the day up 1.28%. Strong corporate earnings results are also fuelling the strength in equities with Netflix jumping over 9% after surpassing 300 million paid memberships inQ4, while Procter & Gamble added nearly 2% on earnings topping expectations.

In Europe overnight, markets closed mostly higher on strong corporate earnings results in the region which boosted Germany’s DAX to an all-time high again on Wednesday with a gain of 1.01%. The French CAC rose 0.86%, but, in the UK, the FTSE 100 ended the day down just 0.04%. Sportswear giant Adidas rose 6% on the German index on Wednesday after sales grew by 19% in Q4 results.

Across the Asia region on Wednesday markets closed mixed led by China’s CSI index falling 0.93% as President Trump signalled his plans to impose a 10% tariff on China. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also fell 1.72% on Wednesday while South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.15%, and Japan’s Nikkei ended the day up 1.58%.

The local market closed the midweek session 0.33% higher, extending on Tuesday’s gains as 7 of the 11 sectors ended the day higher. Our big miners came under pressure yesterday though after US President Donald Trump said he was considering a 10% tariff on China which Australia is reliant on for key commodity trade.

Technology shares rose on Wednesday after Netflix posted its biggest quarterly subscription gain ever in afterhours trade in the US, fuelling investor hopes for broad growth in the tech sector on an earnings front.

Woodside shares fell almost 2% yesterday after the oil and gas producer released the most recent quarterly results including production falling 3% due to weaker seasonal demand.

Bub’s Australia soared 22.5% on Wednesday after the infant formula producer reported a sharp turnaround in 1H earnings with the company achieving EBITDA of $2.9m following a $6.8m loss in the PCP.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Thursday’s trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.35%.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.1% higher at US$75.97/barrel, gold is up 0.48% at US$2757/ounce and iron ore is flat at US$101.21/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has further strengthened overnight to buy US$0.62, 98.29 Japanese Yen, 50.76 British Pence and NZ$1.11.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has increased the 12-month price target on Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) from $10.50 to $10.70 and maintain a buy rating on the uranium producer following the release of a second quarter update including operational gains at its Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia with production of 640 thousand pounds which beat BPe and C1 costs of US$42.3/pound which fell below BPe which was a welcome result.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) following the formation of a pattern over a period 85-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $2.83 to the range of $3.25 to $3.35 according to standard principles of technical analysis.