Morning Bell 24 February

Starting abroad this morning, it was a tough start to the week in Wall St which saw all 3 major indexes tumble as investors weigh fears of AI disruption across various industries, as well as the announcement of further tariffs. The Dow Jones dropped 1.7%, the Nasdaq declined 1.1%, while the S&P fell 1%. What to watch today: • Back home, despite the rout in New York the ASX is expected to open in the green this morning, with the SPI futures indicating a 0.3% jump at the open of trade today. • Turning to reporting season, we’ve seen some big announcements this morning already. Starting with Regal Partners (ASX:RPL), which announced substantial beats on its targets, with a 47% increase in income and a 65% jump in profit from last year. • Monadelphous (ASX:MND) saw similarly positive results, announcing a record half year revenue which was 46% up from last year, while net profit climbed 53%. • Keep an eye also on Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS), and Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC), which will also be reporting today. • So far, we’ve seen 173 companies report their results this reporting season. Of them, 69 companies or 40% have beaten expectations, 56 companies or 32% are in line, and 48 companies have missed expectations, making up the remaining 28%. • Following their results yesterday, Bell Potter have maintained their buy rating on counter drone technology supplier Electro Optic Systems (ASX:EOS), however reduced their 12-month price target from $12 to $9.70, off the back of a combination of lower projected revenue and higher costs. • The team have also upgraded employee benefits provider McMillan Shakespeare (ASX:MMS) from a Hold to a Buy with a 12 month target price of $18.50, following their results and FY26 guidance. • And to end with commodities news: o very little change in the Crude Oil price, which is trading just about flat at US$66 per barrel. o However, it was a different story for precious metals, which have seen their rebound from the sell-off earlier this month continue as tariff uncertainty is back in the news. Gold is trading up 2.4% at around US$5230 per ounce, while Silver is up 4.7% to US$88.50 per ounce. Find Bell Direct here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/belldirect Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellDirectAu... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bell... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bell.direct/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@bell.direct