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The Nasdaq rose to a fresh record high on Friday while the other major averages ended the day lower as investors piled into the high growth sector ahead of key earnings results being released. The Nasdaq rose 0.56% to a fresh record 18,518.61 points, the S&P 500 inched 0.03% lower and the Dow Jones ended the day down 0.61%.Fast food giant McDonalds shares posted the biggest weekly loss since 2020 on Friday as a deadly E. Coli outbreak linked to the burger giant weighed on the fast-food chain’s stock price. Shares fell 7.6% over the trading week. Spirit Airlines soared over 18% on Friday after the budget airline announced it will sell 23 planes for $519m and cut jobs. This rally follows Spirit rocketing 46% on Wednesday on reports the carrier has reignited merger talks with fellow budget airline, Frontier Airlines.

Over in Europe on Friday, markets closed mostly lower as investors responded to key Q3 earnings updates. The STOXX 600 fell 0.04% on Friday but 1% over the trading week, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.11%, the French CAC lost 0.08% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.25%. Mercedes shares fell 1% on Friday after the luxury German automaker reported a 64% dive in operating profit, while French spirits maker Remy Cointreau fell 0.7% after slashing its sales outlook for the full year amid demand weakness in the US and APAC regions.

Across the Asia region on Friday, it was a mixed end to the final trading session of last week as investor awaited Japan’s general election over the weekend and responded to Japan’s October inflation numbers with core inflation falling to 1.8% for the month which was in-line with economists’ expectations. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.6% on Friday, China’s CSI index rose 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.52% and South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day flat.

Locally on Friday the ASX200 rose just 0.06% to close higher as a 3.34% rally for the tech sector offset weakness among consumer staples, discretionary, and industrials stocks. A rebound in logistics software giant WiseTech Global did a lot of the market’s heavy lifting on Friday with a 12.7% gain after days of being sold off amid negative news surrounding those at the helm of the company.

ResMed rallied 5.9% on Friday after the sleep apnoea medical device producer reported revenue rose 3% to US$1.225bn and the company reiterated FY25 guidance of 59-60% despite higher freight costs expected as a result of the Middle East tensions.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Monday’s trading session here in Australia, the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the day flat.
• On the commodities front this morning oil has risen 2.27% to US$71.78/barrel, gold is up 0.5% at US$2747.60/ounce and iron ore is down 0.16% at US$104.23/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has slightly weakened against the greenback to buy US$0.66, 101.29 Japanese Yen, 51.10 British Pence and NZ$1.10.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has downgraded Fortescue (ASX:FMG) to a sell from a hold and have reduced the 12-month price target on the mining giant from $17.58 to $17.04 following the release of the company’s September quarterly update including iron ore shipments falling short of Bell Potter’s expectations while cash costs per wet metric tonne were higher than Bell Potter had anticipated. Production was also down 12% QoQ and are tracking to the bottom of the FY25 guidance range.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Grange Resources (ASX:GRR) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 24-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $0.28 to the range of $0.34 to $0.36 according to standard principles of technical analysis.