US equity markets were strong in overnights trade as positive employment data and a rebound in technology stocks outweighed geo-political developments - The Dow up +103-points or +0.20%. The broader S&P500 added +0.81%. While the Nasdaq gained +1.9% to lead the indexes. A jump in Consumer Discretionary (+2.3%), Communication Services (+2.3%), Information Technology (+1.91%) & Energy (+0.7%) led 8 of the 11 S&P500 sectors higher. Twitter shares surged more than 27% following news that Elon Musk purchased a +9.2% passive stake in the company. Tesla’s stock also rose +5.6% on the back of its latest quarterly electric vehicle delivery figures, which came in above the year-earlier period. Other technology companies including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Nvidia were also up more than +2% after what was a weak March quarter for those companies. US-listed Chinese technology stocks, including Alibaba and JD.com, also rallied on optimism that they could avoid being delisted from US markets. Meanwhile, shares of Starbucks dipped +3.7% after the coffee chain suspended its share buyback program. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +0.21%.
