Company Interview / the open: Trump threatens tariffs 📉 ASX to open flat

The local market is expected to open fairly flat, with ASX futures pointing down less than 0.1%. 

Wall Street ended with modest weekly losses despite strong earnings in tech and banking ahead of the three-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the US. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 0.4%, the Nasdaq declined 0.66% and the Dow Jones fell 0.3%. 

US President Trump has threatened fresh tariffs on goods from European nations that oppose his push to take control of Greenland. He vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland. 

Oil prices rose on Friday as investors covered short positions ahead of the long weekend and amid concerns about a possible US military strike against Iran. 

The US dollar index closed up slightly on Friday, supported by renewed tariff threats on European countries. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US66.7 cents.