We’re poised for a rough start to the week, after Wall St saw a sizeable drop last Friday to cap off a highly volatile week. The Dow Jones lost 1%, the S&P500 fell 1.3%, while the Nasdaq lost 1.6%. On top of the ramifications of the ongoing Middle East conflict, investors also reacted to softer than expected US Jobs data which was released on Friday, adding to the sell-off.

What to watch today:

• Looking ahead to today, the ASX is set to nosedive this morning, with the SPI futures pointing to a 1.8% drop at the open of trade today. 
• The biggest story remains commodities, particularly Crude Oil. The supply fears remain around the Strait of Hormuz, which showed no signs of subsiding after President Trump’s latest rhetoric on Truth Social, in which he claimed there would not be an end to the war without “unconditional surrender” from Iran. 
  • Crude Oil is currently trading at US$92 per barrel, the first time it has crossed the US$90 benchmark in nearly 2 years. This brings the total price gain for the week to 35% - the highest week price gain since oil futures began trading in 1983. 
  • Despite the volatility across the rest of the market precious metals remain trading relatively stably – Gold is currently trading at US$5158 per ounce, continuing to rest around the $5100 mark it has sat at for the last few days. 
  • Silver similarly is currently trading at US$84.40 per ounce, representing a gain of 2.5%.
• Finally, looking at some trading ideas for today: Bell Potter maintain their Buy rating on athlete tracking solutions provider Catapult Sports (ASX:CAT), with a 12 month price target of $4.85, reinforcing it as one of their preferred tech stocks in the mid cap range. 
• They also maintain their buy rating on agricultural chemicals supplier Nufarm (ASX:NUF) with a 12 month price target of $3.60, which at the current price of $2.12 per share implies a 70% capital growth over the period.