It was a mixed session to end the week on Wall St on Friday with the Dow Jones rallying 0.33% to a fresh record high while the S&P500 lost 0.13% and the Nasdaq ended the day down 0.4%. Encouraging inflation data boosted investor appetite for stocks on the Dow Jones industrials index. August’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, increased 0.1% in the month which met economists’ expectations on a monthly basis, but the index rose 2.2% YoY which fell short of economists’ forecasts of 2.3%. While inflation remains under control the Fed can focus on a sustained rate cut outlook to stabilise the US economy.

Across the European region on Friday, markets closed in record territory as investors welcomed China’s new stimulus announcement and investors assessed key economic data. The STOXX 600 rose 0.52% to a record high while Germany’s DAX added 1.22%, the French CAC rose 0.64% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.43%. France and Spain both reported preliminary inflation data that showed a drastic drop in inflation in the regions which was welcomed by investors on Friday.

Across the Asia markets on Friday, markets rallied led by China’s CSI index posting its best week in almost 16 years with a rise of 15.7% for the week, on the back of China launching a large-scale stimulus package in a bid to reignite economic activity in the world’s second largest economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 3.55% on Friday and 12.75% over the week and Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.32% after headline inflation eased to 2.2% from 2.6% in August.

Locally on Friday the ASX200 rose 0.1% to yet another fresh record high as a sharp rally for materials stocks offset losses among health care and real estate stocks. Mineral Resources led the winners on Friday with a near 14% boost, while Star Entertainment Group fell over 44% in the aftermath of the company released final FY24 results.

De Grey Mining rallied 3.4% on Friday after denying a media report that the gold miner had received a takeover offer from Canada’s Agnico Eagle.

Vulcan Energy Resource rose 5.8% on Friday after the company bought 100% of shares in geothermal wells operator, Geo GmbH.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Monday’s trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the day up 0.27% tracking the Dow’s record on Wall St on Friday.
• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 0.75% higher at US$68.18/barrel, gold is down 0.53% at US$2658.40/ounce and iron ore is up 0.48% at US$92.98/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has further strengthened against the greenback to buy US$0.69, 98.40 Japanese Yen, 51.61 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has increased the 12-month price target on Brickworks (ASX:BKW) from $29.50 to $31.00 and have downgraded the rating on the industrial conglomerate from a buy to a hold following the release of a robust FY24 result including EBIT down 8% but this beat Bell Potter expectations by 11%, core net debt increasing to $682m and outlook for FY25 remaining subdued on a building products front.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Acrow (ASX:ACF) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 23-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $1.07 to the range of $1.10 to $1.12 according to standard principles of technical analysis.