James Gruber

The Australian share market to jump at the open.

Plus, it's been quite a ride for oil in the past 24 hours.

Good morning, I'm James Gruber.

And I'm Gillian Bowen.

It's Friday the 1st of May, and this is the morning edition of the ComSec Market Update.

It's also been a big week for mega cap reporting, which we'll get to in more detail shortly.

But with US markets just closing, Apple's results will be coming through shortly.

The afternoon podcast will likely touch on the headlines and I'll have the detail in a video I'll record a little later this morning for our YouTube channel.

Plus, we'll go into more detail when we record Monday's episode.

Yes, well, oil prices have been on a roller coaster after settling yesterday at $118 a barrel.

They saw at $8 and then fell $12 to finish at just over $114 a barrel.

Traders said there was no obvious catalyst for the sharp fall, though noted prices can be volatile ahead of contract expiries.

Looking elsewhere at commodities, base metals were mixed on Thursday.

Copper futures were up 0.8% after upbeat Chinese factory orders, while aluminium futures slipped 0.5%.

Gold futures rose on a softer US dollar but remained on track for a second straight monthly decline.

The futures settled 1.5% higher at US$4,630 an ounce.

Iron ore futures were steady at US$107.18 a tonne.

Well, as we've been discussing, Wall Street advanced on Thursday as solid corporate earnings helped investors look past the Iran war stalemate.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, only technology was in the red, while communication services and industrials led the gainers.

Four members of the magnificent seven group of AI-related mega caps reported late Wednesday.