Company Interview / the open: ASX set to extend records

The local market is set to push towards a new record high today with ASX futures up 0.3%. 

Global stocks and the US dollar rose overnight as trade talks between the United States and China continued, giving investors some reason to believe tensions between the world's two largest economies may be easing. 

The Trump administration has indicated that it could lift recently imposed export controls on goods such as semiconductors if China sped up the delivery of rare earths and magnets that are crucial to its economy. 

On Wall Street, the major indices rose with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq adding about 0.6%. Shares of the magnificent 7 stocks were mixed, as Tesla shares surged whilst Microsoft slipped. Alphabet climbed on reports that OpenAI plans to add Alphabet's Google cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity. 

Oil prices held a near seven-week high with Brent crude futures at $66 a barrel, whilst copper is down 0.4% and iron ore has fallen around 1% to $96 a tonne. The US dollar has advanced on optimism over a trade deal between the US and China, and the Australian dollar has risen to US65.3c. 

With a relatively quiet day on the corporate front, along with no significant data being released, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has announced a new ‘productivity roundtable’ for August with the summit bringing together business and union leaders.