8@eight: ASX set to follow Wall Street higher

4. A break from Fed party line: Though there is certainly a range of views and opinions across the Federal Reserve, we do not often see members diverge too far from the group's central view. That is likely a consideration in their strategy towards transparency on the bank's policy intentions – and because the people they select are inherently reasonable and appreciate the impact their words can have. And, where there is a greater disparity in scale on the views of policy from hawkish to dovish; it is exceedingly rare to see any individual project a more dramatic view of the markets beyond the cookie cutter assessment that they seem 'roughly fairly balanced'.

Yet, Atlanta Fed's Bostic must not have gotten the memo; or perhaps we are seeing a new world order under Jerome Powell. Mr. Bostic remarked that some markets are becoming "aggressively" priced. That may seem vague and minor language change, but it was also a market event some years ago when then-Chair Yellen labeled some specific equity sectors 'frothy'. Beware the Fed and other central banks members' concerns over markets and volatility.

5. ASX: The local sharemarket is set to continue to rise this morning, with futures pointing to an 18-point gain at the open. Its gains have been relatively restrained in comparison to global markets, but that restraint may serve it well – especially with Chinese markets offline. Notably, the technical performance this index is carving out following two large 'lower wicks' just above a well-tracked trendline support dating back to the beginning of 2017 will appeal to chart traders. However, measure conviction not in technical level to technical level moves but rather conviction in fundamentals and volume.

6. Aussie dollar recovery only showing through against troubled currencies: The Australian Dollar has made some remarkable progress in a technical sense against the Japanese Yen, Euro and British Pound. Yet this isn't an effort being led by the Aussie currency itself. From AUD/JPY we have a reversal from its progressive selloff of the past months, but this is a technical pattern mirrored across all Yen pairs.

As for the Euro and Pound, each is pulling back from relative highs – cautiously but persistently – with a sense that positioning that had run afoul of fundamentals is starting to deflate. Elsewhere, equally appealing technical patterns for the target currency such as AUD/USD or AUD/CAD in 'discounted' positions show little intention of making for a rebound.

7. Another active but directionless day for oil: With general investor confidence showing recovery through the past session – even if struggling with conviction – we would expect the growth-linked commodities to carve out the same performance. Agricultural markets such as wheat, cotton and soy beans were higher through the session; but that may be due to the concerns related to China's retaliation against the US in trade wars.

Crude oil in the meantime was showing another wide swinging session that would ultimate close again without a commitment to direction. Risk trends are questionable moving forward because of the lack of growth and open trade that we are registering behind this market. So expect uncertainty from commodities going forward even if speculative appetites heat up.

8. Market watch:

SPI futures up 18 points or 0.3% to 5788 at about 7.15am AEST

AUD flat at 76.88 US cents

On Wall St: Dow +1%, S&P 500 +0.7%, Nasdaq +0.5%

In New York, BHP +0.3% Rio +1.1%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +2.7%, FTSE +2.4%, CAC +2.6%, DAX +2.9%

Spot gold -0.5% to $US1326.41 an ounce

Brent crude +0.6% to $US68.42 a barrel

US oil +0.4% to $US63.64 a barrel

Iron ore flat at $US63.57 a tonne

Chinese markets closed for a holiday

LME aluminium +0.9% to $US2009 a tonne