–  US indices finished higher for the second day in a row yesterday. S&P 500 gained 1.19%, Dow Jones added 0.76% and Nasdaq rallied 2.01%. Russell 2000 traded 1.25% higher

– Indices from Asia-Pacific followed into footsteps of their US peers and also traded higher today. Nikkei gained 1.5%, S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4% and Nifty 50 traded little changed. Traders from China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore were off for holidays

– DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session today

– According to a Bloomberg report, the United States confronted China over signs that some Chinese state-owned companies are supporting the Russian war effort. US warned China about implications of supplying material support for Russia’s war

– US Energy Secretary Granholm said President Biden would veto a proposed bill that bans SPR sales without providing plan for boosting production

– Media reports that United States is considering canceling next strategic petroleum reserve sail, amounting to around 26 million barrels

– ECB President Lagarde repeated that interest rates in euro area still have to rise signficantly

– Japanese manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at 48.9 in January (exp. 49.4) while services gauge moved higher from 51.1 to 52.4

– Australian manufacturing PMI dropped from 50.2 to 49.8 in January while services index dropped from 48.3 to 47.3

– Cryptocurrencies are trading mostly higher today – Bitcoin gains 0.8%, Ethereum adds 0.6% and Dogecoin trades 1.3% higher. Binancecoin rallies over 4%

– Oil is trading around 0.1% lower while US natural gas prices rise 0.5%

– Precious metals gain as the US dollar pulls back. Gold and platinum add 0.4% while silver trades 0.5% higher

– NZD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while USD and CHF lag the most