– US indices finished yesterday’s trading slightly higher. S&P 500 gained 0.28%, Dow Jones moved 0.11% higher and Nasdaq jumped 0.92%. Russell 2000 was top performer with a 1.09% gain

– Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher today. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 gained around 0.7%, Kospi moved almost 2% higher and Nifty 50 added 0.4%. Indices from China traded up to 1% higher

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

– Chinese President Xi Jinping vows to boost industrial and investment cooperation between China and Central Asian countries

– Goldman Sachs now estimates probability of US recession over the next 12 months at just 25%, down from previous estimate of 35%

– AUD took a hit following the release of disappointing jobs data for January. Australian employment dropped by 11.5k in January (exp. +20k) and the unemployment rate jumped from 3.5 to 3.7% (exp. 3.5%).

– Japanese exports increased 3.5% YoY in January (exp. +0.8% YoY) while imports were 17.8% YoY higher (exp. +18.4% YoY)

– Japanese core machinery orders increased by 1.6% MoM in December (exp. +2.8% MoM)

– Cryptocurrencies trade higher – Bitcoin gains 2.2% while Ethereum and Dogecoin trade around 1.7% higher each

– Energy commodities gain – oil trades 0.8% higher while US natural gas prices add 0.4%

– Precious metals catch a breath, thanks to USD weakness, and trade slightly higher. Silver gains 0.2%, platinum adds 0.3% while gold trades flat

– EUR and NZD are the best performing major currencies while USD and GBP lag the most