Wall Street has been closing at new records all week, thanks to the optimistic investor phenomenon called the 'Trump trade'.
What happened on Wall St?
The US stock market enjoyed its eighth consecutive day of gains.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed at fresh records — with nine out of the 11 major S&P indexes finishing higher.
Today's gains were led by technology and financial stocks after the House of Representatives passed a $US4.1 trillion budget resolution, the first concrete step towards President Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts.
The Republican-controlled House approved a fiscal 2018 spending blueprint to help them advance an eventual tax bill — by a 219-206 vote.
However, there will still be months of debate in Congress in regards to crafting actual tax legislation.
Mr Trump is attempting to introduce a package of tax cuts for corporations, small businesses and individuals before January, next year. He argues the lower taxes will boost the US economic growth, jobs and wages.
The technology sector, which have powered much of the recent rally, has surged by about 26 per cent in the year to date.
Apart from investor's hoping for tax reform, US stocks have rallied due to recent strong economic figures.
The latest data show, weekly unemployment claims fell by 12,000 last week (to a total of 260,000).
Factory orders also rose by a higher-than-expected 1.2 per cent in August.
In addition, the August trade deficit also narrowed by 2.7 per cent to $US42.4 billion.
"While in nominal terms this is the smallest deficit in 11 months, the real deficit was unchanged from July and little different to the average seen over the past six months," said Deutsche Bank economist Phil Odonaghoe.
Australian market
ASX futures have risen by 0.6 per cent. Coupled with Wall Street's bullish session, the Australian share market may open higher today.
The Australian dollar fell by almost 1 per cent to 77.9 US cents.
The strengthening of the US dollar, and yesterday's weak retail sales figures have knocked the wind out of the local currency.
"After yesterday's softer-than-expected retail sales, the Australian fell from 78.63 US cents to 78.3 US cents and traded around that level in the early part of the overnight session," NAB foreign exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril said.
"Then as the US dollar regained its mojo, the Australian dollar fell below the figure and now trades at 77.91 US cents."
