Markets Live: Banks lead stocks higher 10:53am: The Italian election saga continues, Italy's parliament convenes today almost three weeks after last month's inconclusive election, with the parties still deadlocked over how to form a government in the eurozone's third largest economy. The first task of the 630 lower house deputies and 315 senators will be to elect the speakers of the two houses. The outcome of the votes for these influential roles could give an indication of the prospects for a stable administration. The election produced a hung parliament, with the centre-left winning control over the lower house Chamber of Deputies but not of the Senate, which has equal legislative powers. If the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which holds the balance of power, agrees to do a deal over the parliamentary speakers with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) it may pave the way to a broader agreement on the formation of a government. 10:45am: JPMorgan Chase engaged in high-risk proprietary trading under the guise of ordinary hedging, said Senate investigators, who urged US regulators to strengthen the proposed ban on such trades known as the Volcker rule. Regulators should require banks that hold federally insured deposits to explicitly link positions in derivatives to the underlying risk they are hedging, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recommended in a 300-page report released yesterday. The issue of which trades are hedges and which are risky bets that could destabilize a bank is the crux of a stalemate over the Volcker rule, which was adopted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act designed to rein in systemic risks. The rule, which is in the final stage of drafting by five US regulators, would restrict the kinds of trades permitted by banks holding deposits insured by taxpayers. Banks have lobbied heavily against the Volcker rule, arguing that it will restrict market-making and other standard banking practices. 10:27am: Planned spending on Victoria's gas network has been slashed by $1.1 billion, or a heavy 26 per cent, over the next five years, which may help offset the pressure of rising gas prices. Following a lengthy review, the Australian Energy Regulator, an arm of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, has approved proposed spending on the network which may take some pressure off rising household energy bills. 9:56am: Meanwhile, on the local bond market, futures are stronger as investors take advantage of lower prices following yesterday's selloff. The March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.350 (implying a yield of 3.650 per cent) earlier this morning, up from yesterday's local close of 96.335 (3.665 per cent). JPMorgan interest rate strategist Sally Auld says bond prices are more attractive to investors following the sharp falls seen following the release of Australian jobs data. ""Three year bond yields are 20 points above the cash rate, which looks pretty attractive if you're not expecting the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) to tighten interest rates any time soon,"" she says. ""It's hard to get too bearish at these levels so I'm not sure that a lot's going to happen today,"" she says. ""But more broadly I'd expect to see decent support for the market at these sorts of levels."" 9:47am: Wall Street posted another strong sesson overnight, with the Dow extending its recent winning streak to 10 days and the S&P 500 closing in on a record high as investors were encouraged by data that showed the labour market's recovery is improving. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 83.86 points, or 0.6 per cent, to end at 14,539.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 8.71 points, or 0.6 per cent, to finish at 1563.23 - about 2 points shy of its record closing high set in October 2007. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13.81 points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 3,258.93. The Dow posted its 10th day in a row of gains, matching a string of advances last seen in late 1996. US equities have accelerated their rise since the start of the year, driven by improvement in the economy and the Federal Reserve's continued easy monetary policy.