Before we jump into today’s session, let’s have a quick look at what happened in last Friday’s session. The local market surged 1.9%, and despite this being the strongest lift we’ve seen since late January, it wasn’t enough to recover Thursday’s losses, with the market still closing 1.8% lower last week. 

Sectors wise, all the industry sectors were in the green. The tech sector rallied the most, up 7%, and this follows the Nasdaq closing in the green during its Thursday session and a stronger-than-expected result from BNPL company Affirm, which lifted 23% aftermarket.

The best performers were mainly tech stocks. Afterpay-parent Block (ASX:SQ2) led the way, rising 15%, followed by Life360 (ASX:360) which rose 14.3% and PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) which lifted 14%. On the flip side, gold miners like Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) struggled on Friday, after the gold price tumbled.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients last Friday included Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG), CSL (ASX:CSL) and BHP Group (ASX:BHP).

Moving to the US, stocks also jumped higher, helping prevent the S&P500 from tumbling into bear market territory. The Dow rose over 400 points, the S&P500 lifted 2.4% and the Nasdaq surged 3.8%. Despite Friday’s gains, the major averages posted losses for the week.

What to watch today:

• Following the positive session in the US, the SPI futures are suggesting that our local market is set to open 0.8% higher this morning.
• A company to watch today is Goodman Group (ASX:GMG), as the industrial property company is set to release its third quarter update, with the market looking for an upgrade to its guidance, as many brokers believe GMG will outperform its provided FY22 EPS growth of 20%.
• Moving to commodities: 
  • The oil price lifted about 4% on Friday to US$110 a barrel as US gasoline prices jumped to a record high and China seemed likely to ease its pandemic restrictions.
  • The gold price fell more than 1%, following the dollar’s strong run and more aggressive US interest rates on the horizon. 
  • The spot iron ore price traded about 1.2% higher to US$124 a tonne.
• One new company debuting on the ASX today is natural resources company, Southern Cross Gold. It will be trading under the ticker code SXG. 
• Dicker Data (ASX:DDR), Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) and Autosports Holding (ASX:ASG) are set to go ex-dividend today.

Trading Ideas:

• Citi have initiated coverage on Australian retailer, Universal Store Holdings (ASX:UNI) with a Buy rating and price target of $5.83. Citi sees the company having multiple medium-term growth drivers, including increased store rollout, margin expansion opportunities, as well as increased private brand penetration and direct sourcing. At its current share price of $4.50 this implies about 30% share price growth in a year. 
• Trading Central has a bullish signal on aerial imagery technology company, Nearmap (ASX:NEA) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $1.20 to the range of $1.49 - $1.57 in the next 17 days according to standard principals of technical analysis.