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It was a big week on Wall Street last week with the Nasdaq pushing to a fifth straight record close on Friday while the S&P 500 dipped just 0.04% at the closing bell and the Dow fell 0.15% on Friday. Consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell to 65.6 points in June which was below the expectations of 71.5 points and indicates consumers are concerned about economic conditions amid the high interest rate environment. For the week, the Nasdaq and S&P500 rose 3.2% and 1.6% respectively on the back of cooling inflation indicators in the form of weaker CPI and PPI than economists were expecting.

Over in Europe on Friday the same positive sentiment couldn’t be shared as markets in the region closed lower amid government speculations especially out of France. The STOXX600 fell 0.95% on Friday while Germany’s DAX lost 1.44%, the French CAC fell 2.66% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.21%.

Asia markets closed mixed on Friday led by Japan’s Nikkei closing 0.24% higher after the bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 0% to 0.1% for the month ahead but signalled it is considering the reduction of its purchase of Japanese government bonds.

What to watch today:

• Locally on Friday the ASX200 closed 0.33% as every sector aside from consumer discretionary and healthcare closed in the red which pushed the local market to a 1.25% decline for the week. A widespread decline in commodity prices weighed on the miners late last week while the key index as a whole had its worst week since mid-April last week amid a widespread sell-off across the board in equities.
• Resouro Strategic Metals renewed investor appetite for rare earths miners through a very successful debut on the ASX on Friday as shares in the Brazilian rare earths project miner soared 37% on debut.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.07% higher at US$78.51/barrel, gold is down 0.06% at US$2330/ounce, iron ore is up 0.2% at US$107.33/tonne and uranium is up 0.76% at US$86.65/pound.
• 1 Aussie dollar is buying 66 US cents, 104.12 Japanese Yen, 52.21 British Pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 8 cents.
• Ahead of the first trading session of the new week here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the day down 0.22% ahead of the RBA’s rate decision out tomorrow where it is widely expected that the RBA maintain the current cash rate of 4.35% as key inflation drivers including services, wages and housing inflation remain stubbornly high.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter increased the 12-month price target on Wisetech Global (ASX:WTC) from $92.75 per share to $100 per share and maintain a hold rating on the leading global logistics software company following a recent update on the company’s six CargoWise product development priorities and the larger market opportunities in the Landside logistics and Customs markets.
• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 21-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $13.38 to the range of $14.10 to $14.30 according to standard principles of technical analysis.