Gillian Bowen

The euro was down 0.1% to 1.1764 US dollars.

And the Japanese yen was up 0.3% with one US dollar now buying 158.63 yen.

So let's get a wrap now of world markets.

Looking back at Friday's close, the Dow Jones index finished up 1.8%.

The S&P 500 index was 1.2% higher, while the Nasdaq index advanced 1.5%.

Moving to the European markets, the continent-wide FTSE Euro First 300 index ended 1.6% higher, while the UK FTSE 100 added 0.7%.

European shares jumped and notched their fourth straight weekly gain on Friday on Peace Deal Hopes.

but we know that things have developed over the weekend.

Regardless, let's have a look at what happened there on the trading day on Friday.

Travel and luxury stocks were the biggest gainers, jumping more than 4% each.

LVMH, Hermes and Gucci owner Kering all rose over 1.5% after tumbling earlier in the week on warnings that the war was impacting sales.

Airlines, hit by the sharp increase in fuel costs and lower bookings, also recovered with Ryanair, Lufthansa and EasyJet up between 6% and 7.5%.

Energy shares slid 4.2% as oil prices plunged, with Shell and BP losing 5.6% and 7.4% respectively.

Among other notable movers there, Alstom slumped 27% after the French trainmaker pulled its three-year cash flow forecast, its second major cash warning since late 2023.

Let's take a look at what's on the watch list for this week.

Besides watching war developments, of course, in Australia, there are plenty of ASX companies and ETFs making dividend payments this week, including Vanguard Australian Shares Index, Vanguard Australian High Yield, New Hope, Vanguard MSCI Index, International Shares ETF and Beta Shares Australia 200 ETF.

In the US, there are a deluge of first quarter earnings reports from tomorrow and Federal Reserve Chair-designate Kevin Walsh will testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate on Wednesday.

It's time for our one more thing before we go.

James, what are you kicking us off with for this Monday morning?

I'm an optimist.