Morning Bell 4 August

Wall Street closed lower across the major averages on Friday as investors assessed signals of a weakening economy against Trump’s modified tariffs imposed from August 1. The Dow Jones lost 1.23% on Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 2.24%.

The all-important July jobs report came in weaker-than-expected with an expansion of just 73,000 in nonfarm payrolls for the month, well short of the 100,000 economists were expecting signalling economic weakness at a time Trump’s latest tariffs were imposed.
In Europe on Friday markets closed lower after Trump’s latest slew of tariffs came into effect despite the UK and EU having already negotiated trade deals. The STOXX 600 fell 2.7% on Friday while Germany’s DAX lost 2.66%, the French CAC ended the day down 2.91%, and, in the UK, the FTSE100 closed Friday’s session down 0.7%.

Across the Asia region on Friday markets also closed lower after Trump modified his tariffs on the region. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.66%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.07%, China’s CSI index declined 0.51% and South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day down a sharp 3.88%.

Locally on Friday the ASX200 posted a 0.9% loss to end a solid trading week as investor sentiment was dented by Trump’s latest tariff moves on copper and key trade partners, and investors reassessed positions to start the new month ahead of key earnings results updates and as the market hovers around all-time highs.

Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) tanked over 13% on Friday after the embattled casino operator’s sale of its Queen’s Wharf precinct to its Hong-Kong based JV partner collapsed.

Sleep apnoea treatment leader ResMed (ASX:RMD) rallied over 1% on Friday after posting another quarter of strong results including double digit revenue growth and higher-than-expected margin expansion in the latest quarter.

What to watch today:

• The Aussie dollar has strengthened against the greenback to buy 64.72 US cents, 95.29 Japanese yen, 48.70 British pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 9 cents.
• Ahead of Monday’s trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.4%.

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has initiated coverage of Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG) with a sell rating and a 12-month price target of $2.00 as the analyst believes the company is a great business but is overpriced. 2H25 earnings are also expected to be weaker (relative to 1H25) as is the normal seasonal trend. We expect a convergence on consensus earnings for FY26 following FY25 reporting in August.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Mader Group (ASX:MAD) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 29-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $7.15 to the range of $5.70 to $6.00 according to standard principles of technical analysis.