US equity markets advanced to cap as investors reacted to strong monthly employment data and news that China is evaluating the possibility of trade talks with the U.S. - Dow rose +564-points or +1.39% to 41,317.43. American Express Co (up +3.09%), 3M Co (+3.03%) and Nike Inc (+3.22%) all climbed over >3%. Nvidia Corp rose +2.59% a report in The Information that the artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker is working to design semiconductors to sell in China that would comply with U.S. trade restrictions. Microsoft Corp rallied +2.32%, lifting its market capitalisation to ~US$3.235 trillion and pushed passed Apple Inc (down 3.74%, market capitalisation ~US$3.067 trillion) to become the largest company in the U.S. by market capitalisation as investors responded to the latest quarterly results from the technology giants last week. Apple CEO Tim Cook said Trump administration tariffs could cost the iPhone maker US$900M this quarter. Meanwhile, Microsoft closes Skype tonight AEST, the pioneering video-calling service it acquired for US$8.5B 14 years ago.
