Morning Bell 3 September

Wall St closed lower on Tuesday to kick off the September trading month in the red as investors took profits from the summer bull rally and hold concerns over tariff uncertainty after a federal appeals court on Friday ruled that most of Trump’s global tariffs are illegal. The Nasdaq lost 0.82%, the S&P500 dropped 0.7% and the Dow Jones ended the day down 0.55%.

In Europe overnight, markets tumbled amid a rise in bond yields and the prospect of further tariff uncertainty out of the US. The STOXX 600 fell 1.5%, Germany’s DAX fell 2.2%, the French CAC lost 0.7% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.9%.

Across the Asia region on Tuesday, market sentiment was hit by tariff uncertainty leading to a mixed session in the region. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.3%, India’s Nifty 50 gained 0.3%, South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.94%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the day down 0.5%.

The local market started the new trading month lower with a 0.3% decline on Tuesday as investors digested the August reporting season showing a weaker outcome than expected for FY25 and repositioned portfolios for the tailwinds expected in FY26. Australia’s August reporting season delivered weaker-than-expected results, with only 20-30 % of companies beating earnings expectations compared with more than 80% in the US. Median earnings downgrades of 3.6% outpaced upgrades of 2% locally.

With some heavyweight market stocks trading ex-dividend yesterday and Wall St closed on Monday, investor moves were buoyed yesterday by strength among the banks and a rally among key commodity prices yesterday however this wasn’t enough to boost the ASX to a green finish.

Gold rose 1.4% to $3,496.24 per ounce, and silver surpassed $40 for the first time since 2011, driven by expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, according to ANZ.

Collin’s Food (ASX:CKF) soared over 7% yesterday after posting a 6.7% rise in total sales for the first 18-weeks of FY26 and the KFC Australia operator also reaffirmed guidance for FY26 targeting underlying NPAT of low-mid teens.

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 1.33% higher at US$65.49/barrel, gold is up 1.5% at US$3528/ounce and iron ore is up 0.71% at US$102.53/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has weakened against the greenback to buy 65.13 US cents, 96.70 Japanese Yen, 46.82 British Pence, and 1 New Zealand dollar and 11 cents.
• Ahead of the midweek trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down a sharp 0.42% tracking global market uncertainty overnight.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained a buy rating on Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) and have increased the 12-month price target on the homewares retailer from $6.00 to $8.30 following the release of FY25 results beating expectations and a strong start to FY26 especially from within the Australian business.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Supply Network (ASX:SNL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 268-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $36.02 to the range of $27.50 to $29.00 according to standard principles of technical analysis.