All three US equity benchmarks closed in the green after the US Supreme Court ruled against some of US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. The Dow Jones closed 0.47% higher, the S&P500 up 0.69%, while the tech- heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.9%.
What to watch today:
- Following US equities, our local market is set to rise 0.18% according to the SPI futures.
- As we enter the final week of reporting season, the local market continues to be driven by stock-specific movements. Some notable updates from this mornings financial reports include:
- Fisher and Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH) have upgraded their earnings guidance for the year to March.
- Reece (ASX:REH) reported a 20% fall in profit for their first-half.
- Kogan.com (ASX:KGN) increased its interim dividend by 14.3% to 8c, however profit dropped to $8.2 million.
- Nuix (ASX:NXL) reached a net profit of $11.1 million for the half, in comparison to a loss of $10.4 million a year prior.
- And Ampol (ASX:ALD) has reported a 33% drop in net profit for the full year.
- Two companies Bell Potter are watching this week include Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX). The broker maintains a Buy rating on MIN with a 12-month price target of $70.00. At the current share price of $51.25, this implied 36.6% share price growth in the year. And Bell Potter also maintain a Buy rating on Telix, but have lowered their price target from $23.00 to $19.00. At the current price of $10.43, this implies 82.2% share price growth in a year.
- Among the long list of companies reporting today are Adairs (ASX:ADH), Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC), Praemium (ASX:PPS) and Regis Healthcare (ASX:REG).
- In commodities,
- Crude Oil is in the green at US$66.48 per barrel, nearing a six- month high following news that the US President is considering a limited military strike on Iran.
- The price of Gold has rallied over 2% to US$5,109.17 an ounce. The appeal for gold was reinforced due to two key factors. First, following the Supreme Court’s ruling against reciprocal duties, the initial dollar retreat was quickly offset by statements from the US President around signing a new 10% global tariff. In addition to the trade policy pivot, US GDP data for Q4 was a disappointing report at 1.4%.
- And iron ore is trading lower at US$99.33 per tonne.
