Market Wrap / Trump bump

Despite an intra-day pull-back due to Trump’s tariffs announcements, the S&P/ASX200 finished Tuesday’s session higher, closing up 0.7% to 8402.40 points.

The "Trump Bump" was in full force in morning trade before a mid-session pullback then afternoon recovery. Financial stocks did most of the heavy lifting, while the utilities sector was lower. 

The miners were in focus today, with a raft of quarterly updates. More globally, Trump’s tariffs announcements focusing on North America rather than China ended up appeasing investors despite initial fears. Iron ore prices went up, and BHP gained 0.9% while Northern Star was up 1.6% as it reaffirmed guidance. Liontown rose 11.9% after output tripled in the December quarter.

In the energy sector, Santos shares tumbled 2.2%  after its partner Carnarvon reported a delay in an oil and gas project valued at over $2 billion dollars. 

HUB24 was one of the best performers after announcing a record quarterly net inflows of $5.50 billion. 

In the utilities sector, Origin Energy lost 2.3% on a broker downgrade.  

Novonix fell 5.4% as the market digested news CEO Chris Burns is stepping down. 

Tonight, US earnings are scheduled including Netflix and United Airlines. Markets reopen after the MLK Day holiday.

Looking ahead, companies such as Woodside, Paladin, and Boss Energy will release a new set of quarterly updates tomorrow.