Yesterday, our local market posted its third straight day of gains, closing 0.3% higher, with consumer staples and consumer discretionary stocks advancing the most, while the healthcare sector declined the most, weighed down by a 1.3% fall in CSL’s share price after its results release yesterday.

The biggest gainer yesterday was Challenger (ASX:CGF), with the stock regaining some of its losses after its tumble on Tuesday, following its results release. Its gain yesterday was likely off the back of broker upgrades from both Citi and Morgans. Meanwhile, one of the biggest decliners was Magellan Financial Group (ASX:MFG) after investors were not impressed by the company’s full-year earnings for FY2022. 

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday included Worley (ASX:WOR), Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Santos (ASX:STO) and CSL Limited (ASX:CSL). 

In the US, all three benchmarks closed lower, with the Dow Jones snapping its 5-day winning streak. Investors were assessing the latest retail data, as well as the minutes from the Federal Reserve. The central bank suggested that there are more rate hikes in the pipeline, but the pace could slow. And in Europe, markets pulled back and the latest CPI data was released, which showed that UK inflation had risen to another 40-year high in July, as food and energy prices continue to surge.  

What to watch today:

• Following the negative sessions over on Wall Street and in Europe, the SPI futures are suggesting that our market will follow with a fall of 0.18% at the open. 
• The all-important unemployment rate for July will be released today, and it’s expected to remain unchanged at 3.5%.
• There are a number of companies releasing their earnings results today. These include: Auckland International Airport (ASX:AIA), Blackmores (ASX:BKL), Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), Iress (ASX:IRE), Orora (ASX:ORA) and Transurban Group (ASX:TCL). 
• In commodities, the crude oil price rose as US crude stockpiles fell. The gold price was trading in the red, following the release of the minutes from the US Fed meeting. And the spot iron ore price currently trades at US$108 a barrel, down about 2.7% this week.
• Stocks going ex-dividend today include QBE Insurance Group (ASX:QBE), Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG), MyState (ASX:MYS) and GPT Group (ASX:GPT).
• Accounting software business, Xero (ASX:XRO) will be holding its AGM today. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter have maintained its Buy rating on consumer lending company, Money3 Corporation (ASX:MNY) with a reduced price target from $3.22 to $2.90. Money3 recently released its financial year results. At first glance, the results were a good set of figures showing good growth in profitability, with NPAT up 31.6%, which was slightly better than the guidance. The loan book was up 22.0% and whilst this is impressive, it fell short of the previous guidance. At its current share price of $2.42, this implies 19.8% share price growth in a year. 
• Trading Central has a bullish signal on Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $21.06 to the range of $24.70 - $25.50 in the next 74 days according to standard principals of technical analysis.