Company Interview / the open: the bulls are back

The S&P/ASX200 is expected to open higher with ASX futures up 0.4%. This comes as global equity markets rallied overnight as the US Senate moved towards ending the  government shutdown. 

Wall Street's main indices charged higher, as risk sensitive assets were boosted. Most tech stocks surged led by Nvidia, while Alphabet and Meta also gained. US listed shares BHP and Rio Tinto gained, tracking a rise in copper prices. 

The US Senate has voted in favour of a bill to end the government shutdown. Under the agreement, Congress would pass full-year funding for some departments and fund other agencies until January 30th. That paves the way for the shutdown to end by the end of the week, but the bill still needs to pass the lower house before gaining the approval of President Trump.  

Gold jumped higher to hit a more than two-week high as soft economic data out of the United States reinforced expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates. The US dollar index was little changed and the Australian dollar has jumped to US65.4 cents.