Wall St closed a turbulent week higher on Friday as Trump, once again, signalled there would be some ‘flexibility’ with tariffs, however, he did maintain that the tariffs implemented at the April 2 deadline will be reciprocal, saying all countries that have tariffs on US goods will be taxed. The Nasdaq rose 0.2%, the Dow Jones added just 0.08%, and the S&P500 also ended the day up 0.08%. Companies are increasingly confused over the tariff implications in the US and as a result as uncertain about spend, hiring and forecasting until there is more clarity around tariff implications.

In Europe on Friday, markets in the region closed lower led by travel stocks tumbling amid London’s Heathrow Airport closure due to a fire on Friday. The STOXX 600, French CAC and the UK’s FTSE100 ended the day down 0.6%, while Germany’s DAX ended the day down 0.5%.

Across Asia markets on Friday, stocks mostly fell in the region due to ongoing uncertainty around the US economy and tariff implications. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.19%, China’s CSI index fell 1.52%, South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day up 0.23%, and Japan’s Nikkei ended the day down 0.2%.

Locally on Friday, the ASX200 rose 0.17% despite Wall Street’s turbulence on Thursday as market heavyweights propelled the key index to a positive finish. For the week, the ASX200 rose 1.83%

Australia’s supermarket giants posted strong gains on Friday after the ACCC released its 441-page findings of its ‘price gauging’ investigation. Investors welcomed the findings outlining minimal evidence was found of price gauging and no disciplinary action would be taken against the two key providers in Coles and Woolworths.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Monday’s trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the new trading week down 0.51%.
• Commodity prices took a hit late in the week last week which weighed on the local materials sector as China’s property market remains depreciated, and Trump’s tariffs continue hurting demand for critical metals like copper.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.31% higher at US$68.28/barrel, gold is down 0.75% at US$3023.65/ounce and iron ore is down 0.15% at US$102/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has slightly weakened against the greenback to buy US$0.62 cents, 93.69 Japanese Yen, 48.55 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has initiated coverage of Cuscal (ASX:CCL) with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of $3.40 on the payments and regulated data service provider. Bell Potter’s analyst sees compound gross revenue growth of 17.7% pa driven primarily by growth in transaction revenue across all core competencies and client wins. The company also has demonstrated a track record of innovation, investment and timing with launching milestone connectivity for all mobile payments and acquiring Basiq in 2024 to expand its market presence and offering.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Regis Healthcare (ASX:REG) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 109-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $6.72 to the range of $7.50 to $7.70 according to standard principles of technical analysis.