US stocks ended the first session of the week lower, taking a pause from last week’s big rally. The Dow closed 0.6% lower, the S&P500 down 0.9% and the Nasdaq fell 1.1%. Fed Governor Christopher Waller suggested at a conference in Sydney yesterday, that the market may have overreacted to last week’s CPI reading and said that policymakers still had “a ways to go” before the hiking cycle comes to an end.

European equities closed flat overnight, with the Stoxx 600 up just 0.1%, after struggling to break away from the flatline throughout the session.

What to watch today:

• The Australian market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.52% at the open this morning.
• In economic data, today at 11:30am AEDT, the RBA will release its minutes from its November meeting. This won’t have much influence over markets however, it will provide us with insights into the meeting when the central bank decided to raise the cash rate to 2.85%, marking its seventh straight rate hike. Note that the RBA had also added that it now saw inflation peaking around 8% this year, compared with its previous forecasts of 7.75%.
• As for share prices to keep watch of today: Incitec Pivot (ASX:IPL) and United Malt Group (ASX:UMG) both are set to release their earnings results today.
• AGMs today: AGL Energy (ASX:AGL), Allkem (ASX:AKE), Genworth Mortgage Insurance (ASX:GMA) and Lifestyle Communities (ASX:LIC).
• National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is set to go ex-dividend today, so this may see its share price fall as investors take their profits.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintain a Buy rating on Monash IVF Group (ASX:MVF), after the company’s AGM on Friday. MVF is tracking below Bell Potters H1 expectations, although the company has increased its market share in the key Australian markets over the first four months of the financial year. They have lowered their price target from $1.43 to $1.39, and at its current share price of $0.92, this implies 51.1% share price growth in a year.
• Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $0.26 to the range of $0.31 to $0.33 over 34 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.