• The Nasdaq rose 1.3% to close Thursday’s session at 13,615 points.
• Amazon rallied 2% on closing US$8.5bn acquisition of MGM.
• Guess surged 9.3% on Q4 results including FY22 revenue increasing 23.4%.

The US markets continued a comeback rally on Thursday as investor confidence was boosted by the resumption of cease-fire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials.

The Dow Jones rose 1.2% to finish the trading day up 418 points to close at 34,481 points.

The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 1.3% to finish the trading day up 178 points to close at 13,615 points with Netflix and Tesla gaining 3.88% and 3.73% respectively.

One bitcoin is worth US$40,965 going into the Asian trading day.

The Australian dollar is firm against the major currencies and is buying 73.73 US cents.

Shares in Amazon rallied 2% on Thursday after the ecommerce and tech giant closed its US$8.5bn acquisition of movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), in the company’s biggest acquisition deal since it bought Whole Foods in 2017 for US$13.7bn. The acquisition of MGM was closed after regulators declined to challenge the deal, despite Washington’s initial efforts to reign in the power of Amazon by challenging the deal. .

Luxury brand retailer Guess jumped 9.3% on Thursday after releasing fourth quarter results. Despite reporting a 2.8% decline from Q4 FY21 in GAAP net earnings to US$68.4m, and a 2.8% decline in EPS from Q4 FY21 to US$1.04/share, Guess reported total net revenue for FY22 increased 23.4% to US$799.9m from FY21.

And Heineken is the latest brand to enter the metaverse, launching its first metaverse beer, Heineken Silver, a virtual beer that you cannot taste. The campaign pokes fun at brands’ obsession with joining the metaverse and reminds users there is nothing better than tasting a real beer.