Company Interview / the open: Relief rally ahead 🔼 as TACO trade returns

There was a relief rally on global equity markets overnight after US President Trump postponed a threat to bomb Iran's power grid because of what he described as productive talks with Iran, a claim Iranian officials have dismissed as fake news. The local market is set to rally at the open with ASX futures up 1.8%. 

On Wall Street, the banks, which had weakened during the conflict, gained ground with the S&P 500 Banking index showing its biggest daily gain since before the war. Tesla shares accelerated after CEO Elon Musk said the EV maker and SpaceX will build two advanced chip factories in Austin, Texas. 

Oil prices dropped about 11% after US President Trump chose to de-escalate the conflict with Iran. Crude futures plunged almost 15% earlier in the session, but pared some of those losses after Iran said it launched new attacks on Israel and other sites in the Middle East, and denied that Tehran had engaged in negotiations with the US. 

Gold trimmed losses to recover from a four-month low. The US dollar index is down 0.5% on the day, whilst the Australian dollar is at US70.1 cents.