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Experts and investors still expecting a second wave or calling the current rally a “dead cat bounce” continued to be left behind on Thursday, with the ASX adding another 1.3%.

Wednesday proved to be another wild day for markets with Australia’s ASX 200 index down over 1% at the open, only to rally 2% and finally finish 5 points down as the session ended.

The ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) experienced its best day in over seven weeks on Tuesday, rising by nearly 3% to end at 5,780 points. The Australian share market has now regained 31.2% from its March lows.

In the USA, it was Memorial Day. However, a strong lead from the local futures market was enough to send the ASX 200 to an 11-week high on Monday, but over 2% for the day.

It was another strong week for global markets with the ASX 200 rising 1.7% and the Dow Jones ending up 3.3% last week, as reporting season continued.

It seems to me that global markets are stuck in a trading pattern, oscillating between euphoria when signs of a vaccine are announced, to despair as new economic results and increasingly protectionist policies are released around the world.

Overnight in the US, global share markets recovered on the back of an improving crude oil price, now $32 per barrel, and an uptick in airline bookings, sending both sectors up 4% in the US.

As we wrote here yesterday, the announcement of some success with Moderna’s COVID-19 trials was a case of too much too soon, with most global markets giving back gains as the results were questioned.

Overnight, US drugmaker Moderna announced positive results from its human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine, treating those yet to suffer from the disease with some positive results.

With dividends at risk in many companies, a surprising sector is emerging as a payout powerhouse – mining. It used to be a truism that the cyclicality of the mining industry worked against dividends, as did the need for large capital spending and reinvestment in mine expansion and exploration. But the strong cashflows of some…

Australia’s ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) index climbed slightly higher last week adding 0.25% for the week in spite of rising trade tensions with China, plus the worst trading week in the US for two months, falling 2.6%.

Here’s everything ASX investors need to know on Friday morning…