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Well looking at global markets overnight before jumping into the day ahead. US equities rallied higher, regaining ground in the last week of August, following a month of losses. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 both gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.84%, with Meta and Apple trading higher. However, the information technology sector of the S&P 500 is down almost 5% for the month, and all three major benchmarks have lost ground in August.

European shares traded higher, as investors weighed the prospect of higher interest rates from the US Federal Reserve. Markets were closed in the UK for a public holiday. While Germany’s Dax and France’s CAC both advanced over 1%, and the STOXX600 gained 0.9%.

What to watch today:

• The SPI futures are suggesting that our local market will open 0.35% higher this morning.
• In economic news, the RBA’s Deputy Governor Michele Bullock is set to give a speech at 11:30am AEST today.
• And Reporting Season continues, so watch the share price movements of the company’s reporting today, including Cooper Energy (ASX:COE), Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) and Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR) and Zip Co (ASX:ZIP).
• Looking at commodities,
  • Crude oil is in the green, extending gains for the third straight session, as risk sentiment improves. However, investors are still cautious about the prospect of higher global oil supply and weaker demand.
  • Gold continues to advance as investors await US economic data out this week, which will likely guide the interest rate outlook.
  • And iron ore continues to jump, currently up a further 1.3% at US$117.50 per tonne, reaching its highest level in a month, amid high hopes for strong demand from steel producers.
• And there are a long list of companies set to go ex-dividend today. Remember this often sees share prices fall, as investors take their profits. A few today include Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA), Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG), Lottery Corporation (ASX:TLC) and Worley (ASX:WOR).

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains their SELL rating on Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG), after the mining giant reported its FY23 financial result, which was in-line to slightly below Bell Potter’s forecasts on an underlying basis. They’ve lowered their price target by 3% to $15.53 and at FMG’s current share price of $19.87, implying a 22% loss.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Helia Group (ASX:HLI), indicating that the stock price may rise form the close of $3.84 to the range of $4.09 to $4.15 over 20 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.