5 things you need to know about the Australian sharemarket today

Welcome to Wednesday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.

1. The S&P/ ASX 200(Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has posted a massive 1.6% gain at the open.Wall Street continues to soar, with the Dow Jones gaining 1.8%, the broader S&P 500 1.4% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ 1.1%. Commodities prices are rising across the board (except gold), and the with oil prices rising, some commentators are now suggesting the global economy is not in as bad a shape as expected.The Australian dollar has recovered somewhat from yesterday's huge fall against the US dollar and is currently buying 77.9 US cents.
2. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) shares soared more than 5% on the London Stock Exchange, thanks to rising commodity prices. Oil, copper and iron ore all gained overnight – 3 of the resource giant's most important commodities.That could see BHP shares on the ASX follow suite today.
3. Oil prices surged again overnight, with Brent Crude Oil gaining 5% to US$57.55 per barrel and WTI Oil gaining 5.7% to US$52.39 per barrel. Brent has now gained close to 20% in just 4 days.It seems the market has now realised that the lowest oil prices in five years were too low and bargain hunters have come charging back into the market.But the issue is that the primary issue still remains – too much global supply, and it remains to be seen whether this is a dead cat bounce or a longer-term trend. At this stage, signs suggest supply is set to fall, with petroleum mega-company BP slashing its capex by as much as US$6 billion this year. Drilling company Baker Hughes also reported that US oil rigs have fallen to a three-year low.But BP boss Robert Dudley has told reporters that he expects low oil prices for "probably several years" until supply weakens.
4. Tweet of the Day
   

   #CBA the first big 4 bank to pass on rate cut in full… Will the others now follow suit? #rates #ausbiz (@IngridWillinge)

   Sky News Business (@SkyBusiness) February 3, 2015

   Homeowners rejoice – looks like the big banks are going to pass on the full rate cut to customers.

5. Stock of the Day– brought to you by The Motley Fool contributors. Several of our writers and myself, give you our top tips for the month of February. If you want some stock ideas, there are plenty of great ideas here to choose from.