Latest stock market news videos & Morning Bell

US equities once again headed south overnight, with all three major benchmarks closing in the red as investors digested the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

The Aussie share market today will likely follow the US, with the futures down 0.66% or 50 points to 7,378.

What to watch today:

• It’s also another huge day of earnings season. Investors will be digesting the results from a number of companies. These include the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:ASX) with consensus expecting NPAT to come in at $474.7m. Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) is also set to report with consensus expecting NPAT to comes in at $375.6m, however Bell Potter are more bearish and are expecting NPAT of $389m.
• Also keep an eye out for results from Iress (ASX:IRE), Orora (ASX:ORA), Origin Energy (ASX:ORG), Perpetual (ASX:PPT), Redbubble (ASX:RBL), South32 (ASX:S32), Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR), Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE).
• The most traded stocks yesterday by Bell Direct clients included BHP (ASX:BHP) who after revealing its energy deal with Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) and its decision to end its dual-listed company structure, saw its shares plummet 7%, its worst one-day loss since May last year. WPL was also a most traded stock and saw its shares fall 2.1% yesterday.
• In terms of economic news, the unemployment rate will be released today at 11:30am AEST. Due to the multiple COVID-19 restrictions across the country, it’s expected that July’s reading will come in at 5%, and further increase to 5.5% over the next few months.
• Following a surge in COVID-19 cases worldwide and a strengthening US dollar, investors are cautious of the outlook for fuel demand. This saw the oil price fall about 1.7% on Wednesday, to settle at US$65.46 per barrel.
• The gold price continues to hold steady at US$1,789, while the iron ore price tumbled toward US$150 a tonne.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained its BUY recommendation on Domino’s Pizza (ASX:DMP) and increased its price target by 17% to $155 (previously $132). This is off the back of Domino’s strong all-round FY21 result they released yesterday.
• Bullish charting signals have been identified in Calix (ASX:CXL), Fertoz (ASX:FTZ) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH) according to Trading Central.