Investors keep calm & keep buying Nvidia & Palantir, shaking off Trump’s three worded threat on Hamas & tensions rising in South Korea. Investors brace for OPEC+ changes and US jobs report

Investors mostly kept calm and kept buying US tech stocks, shaking off Trump’s three-worded threat on Hamas and tensions rising in South Korea. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ rose 0.3% overnight, taking this year’s gain to 26%. The Nasdaq scaled to a brand-new record high for the first time in a month. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones fell 0.20%, marking its second day of losses as investors take a bit of profit off the table should Friday’s US jobs report give the Fed ammunition to keep interest rates as they are at their December 17 and 18 meeting.

As for standout shares shares overnight, Palantir Technologies $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ was the star performer, rising 7.4% as investors increased their positioning in the stock. Palantir $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ leads a list of half a dozen companies that could be added to the $26 trillion Nasdaq 100 index at its annual reconstitution, which is to be announced on Dec. 13. Also in tech stocks, Nvidia $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ shares rose to their highest level in four days and are back at $140.24. Meanwhile, Coinbase $Coinbase (COIN.US)$ shares remain stuck in the same trading range they’ve been in for almost a month as traders await Bitcoin's next big move.

Meanwhile, many traders are preparing for geopolitical tension to pick up after Trump said Hamas will have ‘hell to pay’ if they didn’t release Israeli hostages. South Korea declared martial law for the first time since 1987 but revoked it hours later. Defense stocks such as General Electric $General Electric (GE.WI.US)$ rose, along with Axon Enterprises, which lifted 5.3% and hit a new record high of US$669.87. Axon Enterprises $Axon Enterprise (AXON.US)$ hares are up 161% this year, making it a top-four performing company in the S&P 500 this year, trailing Nvidia $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$

Elsewhere, we saw investors buy into oil and some of the largest oil-producing companies amid US-Hamas tension. Plus traders are preparing for a potential change of course by OPEC+ at their meeting, which could change the direction of oil after oil has slid 19% from this year’s March peak. Oil demand has been waning while output has been rising, and it rose overnight with shipments increasing from Russia and the UAE. Oil prices lifted 3%, and shares in oil producers Shell $Shell (SHEL.US)$ and BP $BP PLC (BP.US)$ gained 1.7%-1.8%.

Locally, the Aussie share market is expected to take a breather after hitting a brand-new record high yesterday of 8,495, taking this year’s gain to 12%. Today the ASX200 $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ is trader lower for the first time in three days. But keep in mind as I mentioned yesterday, there is cause for the Aussie share market to be higher at the end the year and for Australia's market to potentially gain more than US stocks.

Oil stocks should be a bright spot today, along with iron ore companies, as iron ore prices are back on the climb with Vale, Brazil’s biggest iron ore producer, maintaining their guidance levels for next year. The iron ore price has now risen 9% in three weeks, and BHP shares have moved up 2.5% from their low. Also, keep an eye on Graincorp $Graincorp Ltd (GNC.AU)$ shares and beef producers such as Elders $Elders Ltd (ELD.AU)$ and AAC $Australian Agricultural Co Ltd (AAC.AU)$ as wheat and cattle prices are higher again. Meanwhile, economic eyes will be on growth data due out today.