8th September 2020
Morning Bell - Jessica Amir
U.S. and Canadian markets closed overnight for Labour Day, rendering a silent night. London’s market rose 2.4%, German and French markets followed off the back of economic cyclical stocks like autos leading the gains.
Commodities:
Gold steady at US$1,935
- Oil fell further below US$40, losing over 5% in the last 2 sessions, now trading at US$39.07.
- Copper trades at US$3.05, its highest since June of 2018, driven by Chinese demand.
The Australian Dollar:
- The AUD tracks lower at 72.7 U.S. cents, holding a near two-year high.
What to watch today:
- The Aussie share market is expected to rise for the second day, with the futures suggesting a 0.4% gain, or a lift of 25 points. Yesterday, the market rose 0.3%. Not enough to recover from the market’s fall last week, marking it’s third fall in 3 weeks.
- The U.S. futures will be under scrutiny as they attempt to rebound from Thursday and Friday’s fall, in which the Nasdaq lost 5.3% - it’s biggest fall in 5 months.
- Many companies are going into ex-dividend from here on in. Today, Austal (ASX:ASB) BlueScope (ASX:BSL), Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN), and Northern Star (ASX:NST) all go ex-dividend.
- Business confidence numbers are out for the month of August, expected to remain very weak.
Trading ideas:
- QBE (ASX:QBE), Australia’s second largest insurer, was reiterated as Bell Potter buy with a $11.90 target.
- Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR), and Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) may be worth a look. Trading Central’s data identified all three of the stocks are showing bullish signals, indicating their prices may move higher off yesterday’s close, according to standard principles of technical analysis.