ASX futures are pointing to a modest 0.35% or 25-point lift in trading today, having climbed 0.63% or 44.6 points yesterday.
In the US, the Dallas Fed manufacturing index continued to recover faster than expected, lifting from -20 in July and outstripping forecasts of -19 to hit -17.2 in August.
The markets were also on the up, with the Dow gaining 0.6% or 213 points, the S&P500 matching it and the Nasdaq outperforming them both to gain 0.8% or 114.5 points.
Multinational conglomerate 3M (NYSE:MMM) enjoyed a 5.2% jump in its share price after offering to pay more than US$5.5 billion to resolve more than 300,000 lawsuits that allege the company sold the US military defective combat earplugs.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:NYSE:GS) was also in the spotlight, gaining 1.8% on an agreement to sell an investment advisory business to wealth management firm Creative Planning.
US tech stocks benefited from a spot of diplomacy; US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo engaged with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on the semiconductor trade war heating up between the two countries, discussing concerns about restrictions placed on American businesses.
Micron (NASDAQ:MU) (+2.5%), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) (+1.1%), Nvidia (+1.8%) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) (+0.9%) were subsequently rewarded.
On the biotech side of things, Horizon Therapeutic’s shares jumped 5.1% after the US Federal Trade Commission withdrew its challenge of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)'s US$27.8 billion purchase of the company.
European markets
The Euro bourses bounced back from Friday’s losses with a little encouragement from Chinese stimulus measures, which halved stamp duty on stock trades "to invigorate the capital market and boost investor confidence".
Automakers and industrials stocks gained 0.8% and 1.3% respectively in response, while luxury brands heavily exposed to the Chinese markets also benefited – LVMH, Kering (EPA:PRTP) and Hermes lifted by more than 1% each.
Technology stocks followed Wall Street’s lead with a 1.8% gain and the FTSE300 lifted by 0.8%. The London market was closed for a public holiday.
Currencies and commodities
The US dollar was stronger overnight. The Euro fell from US$1.0819 and landed at US$1.0815, the Aussie slipped marginally from US$0.6434 to US$0.6430 and the Japanese Yen dipped from 146.27 yen per US dollar to JPY146.50 at the US close.
Global oil prices were mostly unchanged, pushed down by US interest rate hike fears but buoyed by the potential that a tropical storm off the US Gulf Coast could disrupt supply.
Brent fell by 0.1% to US$84.42 a barrel, US Nymex lifted by 0.3% to US$80.10 a barrel.
Metals were also mixed – copper futures fell 0.2%, aluminium futures lifted 1.4% and iron ore added 0.1% to US$108.31 a tonne.
Gold also rose, gaining 0.4% or US$6.90 to US$1,946.80 an ounce.
On the small cap front
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) experienced a small dip yesterday, shedding 0.04% to 2,807 points on a mostly flat day.
You can read about the following and more throughout the day here on the Proactive website.