1. The S&P/ASX 200 reached a new record-high close yesterday, with the index rising 30.90 points or 0.43% to 7,144.60. The previous record close of 7.132.7 was set just over a month ago, with futures indicating the ASX could reach another record high today.

2. International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva described the coronavirus as the "most pressing uncertainty" and noted that "uncertainty is becoming the new normal" in a blog post. Georgieva also singled out Australia's bushfires as a recent example of the human and economic costs of climate change, with IMF estimates suggesting that a country's growth is reduced by 0.4% in the year following a climate-related natural disaster.

3. US President Donald Trump allegedly offered to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he said that Russia was not involved in hacking emails from the Democratic party during the last presidential election according to a lawyer representing Assange.

4. On the Reporting Season calendar today are Bingo Industries, Boral, Coca-Cola Amatil, Iluka Resources, IRESS, Lendlease, Medibank, Origin Energy, Perpetual, Qantas, Santos, Southern Cross Media, Star Entertainment Group, Super Retail Group, Sydney Airport and Whitehaven Coal.

5. After beginning the week down, the S&P 500 has again reached a record-high close after moving up 15.86 points or 0.47% to 3,386.15. The Nasdaq has also reached a new record high, closing up 84.44 points or 0.87% to 9,817.18, and the Dow Jones also moved higher to end the day 115.84 points or 0.40% higher on 29,348.03.