Overseas, Wall St traded slightly down overnight despite the much-anticipated jobs data coming in better than expected. Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecasted a gain of 55,000 jobs, and an unemployment rate of 4.4%, however the data revealed a gain of 130,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. However, the beat failed to move the markets, as the Dow Jones ended the day down as the Dow Jones and Nasdaq both slipped 0.1%, while the S&P500 ended the day flat.
What to watch today:
- Heading into today’s trading session, the ASX is expected to follow Wall St’s wavering session, with the SPI futures pointing to a 0.02% drop at the open
- Another busy day of results ahead as Reporting Season continues, look out for AMP (ASX:AMP), Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) and Northern Star (ASX:NST) releases, which are all due this morning. You can find all results once released at Bell Direct’s reporting season page
- So far this reporting season, 17 companies have released their results, with 3 beating expectations, 9 in line with expectations, and 5 misses
- Following their results yesterday, Bell Potter’s research team have maintained their hold rating on CSL (ASX:CSL), however cut their 12-month price target from $195 per share to $175 per share, after updating their Adjusted NPAT and revenue growth guidance off the back of underwhelming results.
- Bell Potter have also upgraded their rating on SGH (ASX:SGH) from a Hold to a Buy, with a 12-month price target of $56 per share. This comes after the company reported results that beat guidance, sparking a more optimistic medium term outlook.
- And in commodities, Crude Oil is trading up 1.6% at US$65 per barrel, Gold also jumped overnight 1.4% to just under US$5100 per ounce, while silver remains the most volatile, trading up 4.7% at US$84.50 per ounce
