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Good morning, well the Australian share market is eyeing a soft start to kick off the trading week as the local futures are suggesting a 0.1% fall.

Now it comes as US equities ended lower on Friday despite Gilead’s COVID-19 vaccine being approved by the US FDA and will be rolled out to patients in America.

Amazon shares fell 7.6% after it announced it would spend upcoming second quarter profits on COVID-19 staff tests.

While Apple shares fell almost 2% with revenue beating expectations, while it did not give a gauge on upcoming second quarter earnings.

And on Wall Street, all in all, the Nasdaq fell the most 3.2% the S&P 500 ended 2.8% lower.

Also weighing on equities was the U.S president Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on China, over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elsewhere, on the commodity front the oil price has pushed ahead up 5% to $19.78 and the gold price is back above $1,700 an ounce.

Now what to watch today, well Westpac (ASX:WBC) they announced that half-year profit fell 62% to $1.2 billion with cash earnings falling 70%.

Westpac deferred their interim dividend and flagged $1.9 billion in potential COVID-19 impacts.

Afterpay (ASX:APT) announced Tencent, the owner of WeChat, became a major shareholder in Afterpay on Friday, making the announcement at 7:20pm.

Afterpay says its investment allows Afterpay to learn from one of the world’s most successful digital platform businesses with potential to collaborate in technology, geographic expansion and future payments on Afterpay.

Now Afterpay is also backed by Bell Potter as a buy.

Now to trading ideas, Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) which is currently generating substantial free cash flows and returning much of it to dividends, was reiterated as a Bell Potter hold.

Bell Potter notes short-term price pressure remains on Fortescue Metals, with the price pressure and exchange rates weighing.

However in good news, Bell Potter expects a 12% dividend yield for Fortescue and its share price to set at about $10.71 in 12 months.

However Bell Potter sights its expecting a strong June quarter and a strong balance sheet.

Now Trading Central’s flagged that Fortescue’s nine month price target could sit between $12 – 12.60.

Elsewhere, were to watch Building approvals and permits out later for the month of March, consensus is expecting a 15% fall following the 19% surge that we had in February, so I’d keep an eye on construction linked companies including Brickworks (ASX:BKW), Boral (ASX:BLD) and Adelaide Brighton (ASX:ABC).

I’m Jessica Amir from Bell Direct. Happy trading and stay safe.