Equities rose in the US on Friday but recorded a losing week across the key indices as investor fears of further rate hikes out of the Fed strengthened on the back of weaker-than-expected initial jobless claims data released earlier last week. The Nasdaq and S&P500 both posted their first weekly losses in 3 weeks losing 1.9% and 1.3% respectively while the Dow Jones fell 0.8% over the week. Shares in e-signature company DocuSign fell 3.7% on Friday despite the company posting earnings that topped expectations and strong guidance for the third quarter.

Over in Europe, markets closed slightly higher on Friday as investor sentiment is sliding on renewed inflationary concerns in the U.S., alongside weak Chinese economic data and stronger government bond yields. The STOXX600 rose 0.22% on Friday, Germany’s DAX added 0.14%, the French CAC lifted 0.62%, and in the UK, the FTSE100 rose 0.49%. The rally on Friday was also due in part to the release of final eurozone figures for economic growth showing the economy grew 0.1% in the second quarter which was lower than the 0.3% growth economists were expecting in a sign interest rate hikes are having an impact in cooling the economy.

Locally on Friday, the ASX200 fell 0.2% weighed down by materials and consumer discretionary stocks being sold off while some of the losses were offset by strength in the utilities sector.

For the week, the ASX200 fell 1.67% with every sector closing in the red aside from energy stocks which were boosted by the rising price of oil on the back of output cuts from Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Polynovo led the winning stocks on Friday with the healthcare company adding over 3% while Lake Resources and Pexa each jumped 2.7% and 2.57% respectively. Sayona Mining tumbled 4.55% on Friday despite the lithium miner announcing it reached the major milestone of shipping the first lithium oxide concentrate and generating maiden cash proceeds from its North American Lithium operation in Quebec.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are suggesting the ASX will open 0.06% higher to start the new trading week in the green.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil has retreated to trade 0.52% lower at US$87.05/barrel, gold is flat at US$1919/ounce and iron ore is down 0.85% at US$116.50/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buying US$0.64, 93.95 Japanese Yen, 51.25 British Pence and NZ$1.08.
• Stocks trading ex-dividend today include Chorus (ASX:CNU), CSL (ASX:CSL), HUB24 (ASX:HUB), Terracom (ASX:TER) and Pepper Money (ASX:PPM). If you’ve been thinking about these stocks it might be worth considering buying in today as stocks trading ex-dividend generally trade lower on the ex-dividend date.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has decreased the price target on AMA Group (ASX:AMA) from 26cps to 15cps and maintain a buy rating on the leading accident repair group in Australia following the release of the company’s FY23 results including revenue falling slightly below Bell Potter’s forecast at $869.6m. FY24 guidance was reiterated and the company also announced a $55m capital raise.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Reece (ASX:REH) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 24-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $19.24 to the range of $17.70 and $18.00 according the standard principles of technical analysis.