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Wall St rallied overnight as treasury yields fell which saw the Dow Jones have its best day since June, ending the session up 1.7%. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy-Nasdaq followed suit, gaining 1.89% and 1.78% respectively at the closing bell. All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 ended the day in the green, led by gains in the energy and real estate sectors.

US treasury yields dropped to 4.67%, after the benchmark yield topped 5% last month.

US Data was released overnight showing easing inflation and a slowing labour market, which added to investor confidence that the Federal Reserve may be done raising rates for the time being.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher, following investor reaction to the Federal Reserve holding rates over in the US. The STOXX 600 ended the day 1.6% higher with all sectors positive, led by auto stocks up 3% and tech stocks up 2.7%. Germany’s DAX ended the day up 1.48%, the French CAC closed the trading session up 1.85% and over in the UK the FTSE 100 gained 1.42%.

Locally yesterday, the ASX 200 finished 0.9% in the green led by the information technology and real estate sectors which gained 3.23% and 2.35% respectively. However, this was offset by the utilities sector which lost 3.83% on Thursday.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 1.23% at the open this morning, extending the green run into the final trading session of the week.
• In terms of economic data,
  • US Non-Farm Payrolls data is set to be released after Australian market close with a forecast of 180,000 new jobs added to the US economy in October which is down from the 336,000 recorded in September.
  • And US unemployment rate data will also be released with a forecast to remain steady at 3.8%.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is up 2.51% to 82 US dollars and 46 cents a barrel, following the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain rates.
  • Gold is up 0.18% to 1985 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is up 0.81% to 124 US dollars and 50 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Graincorp (ASX:GNC) and maintains the 12-month price at $9.45 on the agricultural stock. The buy rating is maintained as the share pricing in a material retracement is below normalised crop level earnings and there is also a potential utilisation of surplus capital through investment in new oilseed crush capacity that lifts the sustainable earnings base.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal in Pacific Current Group (ASX:PAC), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $9.91 to the range of $11.20-$11.70 on a pattern formed over 26 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.