Morning Bell 21 July

Wall Street closed mixed on Friday following reports President Trump pushed for greater tariffs on the European region. The Dow jones fell 0.32% on Friday, the S&P500 lost just 0.01% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day up 0.05%. Reports suggest Trump is demanding a minimum tariff between 15-20% from the EU ahead of the August 1 tariff implementation date. Consumer sentiment in the U.S. also out on Friday though suggests confidence levels are up 1.8% in the latest reading, indicating tariff-induced inflation fears are easing. We have started receiving first half earnings results in the U.S. and Netflix shares fell 5% on Friday after the streaming giant reported its operating margin will be lower in the second half of this FY.

Across the European region on Friday, markets closed mixed as investors digested the latest tariff threats on the region. Germany’s DAX fell 0.33%, the French CAC rose 0.01% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.22%.

The Asia region also ended Friday’s session mixed with China’s CSI index rising 0.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.33%, South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.13%, and Japan’s Nikkei ended the day down 0.21%.

The ASX200 posted a 2.1% gain for the week in its best week since May and ended the week with a fresh record high driven by market heavyweights like CSL (ASX:CSL) and BHP (ASX:BHP) jumping over 3% each. Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) rocketed over 34% on Friday after reporting strong early sales of Ryoncil in the first few months of its availability on market.

Virgin Australia (ASX:VGN) also gained almost 2% after UBS initiated coverage of the airline with a buy rating.

Most traded securities:

• The most traded investments by our clients on Friday were led by 
  • Wesfarmers (ASX:WES)
  • BHP (ASX:BHP)
  • ANZ (ASX:ANZ) 

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 0.36% lower at US$67.30/barrel, gold is up 0.32% at US$3349/ounce and iron ore is up 0.04% at US$97.22/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has strengthened against the greenback to buy 65.18 US cents, 96.43 Japanese yen, 48.52 British pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 9 cents.
• Ahead of Monday’s trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.56%.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has raised the 12-month price target on Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) from $3.40 to $3.50 and maintain a speculative buy rating on the pharmaceutical company following the release of the company’s latest cashflow update including US$13.2m in gross sales from Ryoncil for the period of 28 March to 30 June 2025. The major catalysts include revenue expansion from Ryoncil and the unrecognised value of a likely Accelerated Approval for Revascor in late-stage heart failure in CY26.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on CSL (ASX:CSL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 53-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $257.38 to the range of $268 to $272 according to standard principles of technical analysis.