Afternoon trading February 2

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Half-time wrap:

Aussie shares pushed back towards record levels as US futures soared and rates relief lifted property companies and other rate-sensitive sections of the market.

The ASX 200 bounced 95 points or 1.25% towards its ninth gain in ten sessions.The index hit an all-time high on Wednesday before suffering a sharp setback yesterday after the US Federal Reserve dashed hopes of a March rate cut.

Real estate investment trusts and tech stocks set the pace as bond yields declined on both sides of the Pacific. US stocks rebounded overnight from their heaviest loss since September after the US 10-year treasury yield fell to its lowest level this year. Here, the Australian 10-year yield dropped back under 4%.

The S&P 500 rallied 1.25% overnight, recouping roughly three-quarters of its loss the previous session. US futures surged this morning as investors welcomed trading updates from Amazon, Meta and Apple. S&P 500 futures rallied 0.57%. Nasdaq futures gained 1.02%.


Personal trading: Modest profit from EMR from yesterday. Took BKY on retrace. Further up the risk scale, took a v small starting position in PEK to see if today proves to be the kind of high-volume event that often marks a bottom reversal. High risk, so position sized accordingly.