US equities closed the trading week on Friday mixed. The S&P500 posted its second weekly gain but closed 0.29% lower on Friday. The Dow gained just 0.08%, while the tech heavy Nasdaq declined 0.4% as investors took gains from what was a strong trading week.

European markets were in the red ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, which saw the STOXX600 close flat.

Locally on Friday, the market rallied, closing with a gain of 0.73%. Energy and materials were in the lead along with 9 of the 11 industry sectors in the green. Technology and consumer staples were the worst performers, posting small declines at Friday’s close.

What to watch today:

• Following mixed trading on Wall Street, the Australian market is set to open lower this morning. The SPI futures are suggesting a 0.6% fall at the open.
• In commodities
  • Crude oil has fallen almost 1.3% to US$63.14 per barrel, as traders awaited the outcome of talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with hopes for a possible ceasefire in Ukraine affecting market sentiment.
  • The gold price is flat at US$3,335.60 an ounce, as hotter-than-expected US data tempered hopes for a large Fed rate cut.
  • And iron ore is down 0.24% at US$101.59 per barrel so keep watch of iron ore mining stocks today.
• And as we reach mid reporting season, a long list of companies a reporting their earnings result today. These include the A2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M), Ampol (ASX:ALD), BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL), Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC), NAB (ASX:NAB), New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC), oOh! Media (ASX:OML) and Seek (ASX:SEK).
• In economic data today, at 11:30am AEST consumer inflation expectations for August will be released.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a Speculative Buy recommendation on Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) and have reduced their 12-month valuation from $1.05 to 1.15. They say LTR’s 100% owned Kathleen Valley lithium project remains highly strategic in terms of scale, long project life and location in a tier-one mining jurisdiction. At LTR’s current share price or $0.85, this implies 36% share price growth in a year.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Adairs (ASX:ADH) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.24 to the range of $2.34 - $2.38 over 34 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.