If you’re wanting to pick up some blue chip shares, then the two listed below could be top options.

Both of these ASX 200 blue chips have been rated as buys by brokers recently. Here’s what they are saying:

Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)

The first ASX 200 blue chip share that could be in the buy zone is retail giant Woolworths.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are feeling very positive about the company even in the current environment. In fact, the broker is forecasting solid sales growth and even stronger earnings growth through to FY 2024.

Goldman explained:

We are encouraged by the resilience and superior operations of WOW and reiterate our unchanged FY22-24e Sales and EPS CAGR of 6.9% and 14.9% respectively. We expect this to be driven by high price growth, well protected GPM and slight EBIT margin expansion as COVID costs roll-off and cost efficiencies continue.

Goldman recently reiterated its buy rating and $41.70 price target on the company’s shares.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

Another blue chip share that could be in the buy zone is cloud accounting platform provider Xero.

The team at Morgans is positive on Xero. Its analysts believe the software company has high quality operations and strong growth potential in an industry with high barriers to entry.

The broker explained:

XRO boasts strong customer advocacy, significant barriers to entry, scalability and LTV at ~7x CAC. It should continue to grow earnings/FCF above economic trend and is profitable and liquid. We rate it highly and it appears others do as well. A key risk is XRO trades on large short-term multiples. If we remove FY22F “investing for growth” CAC, XRO trades on a ~2.2% FCF yield. Rising interest rates are a net negative for XRO’s share price and growth companies. However, XRO should be a top tech exposure due its high quality.

Morgans recently initiated coverage on the company with an add rating and $90.25 price target.

The post Experts name 2 blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• What are brokers saying about the Xero share price?
• Analysts name 2 ASX 200 dividend shares to buy now
• Broker names 2 ASX tech shares to buy in July
• ASX 200 midday update: ANZ confirms MYOB talks, energy shares fall
• $264 million! The 10 highest-paid CEOs on the ASX

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Xero. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has spoken with her counterpart Wang Yi, with the latter providing a list of requests to fulfil to restore a tattered relationship.

Wang Yi said Australia should treat China as a partner, not as an opponent, in order to “come to a correct understanding of China”.

The foreign minister also spoke about reversing potential trade barriers in a separate announcement. This could be of benefit to ASX 200 coal shares.

China ready to “take the pulse”

Reports have surfaced suggesting that China is ready to reverse its policy governing a ban on Australian coal imports.

Coal now trades at US$415 per tonne, just off its all-time record of US$427 per tonne set on 2 May.

In a media release on Chinese media on Thursday, Wang Yi also said that China was ready to reset ties with Australia out of mutual respect, Reuters reports.

The state official said that the “Chinese side is willing to take the pulse, recalibrate, and set sail again,” in regards to diplomatic relations.

This would involve refraining from joining with others in trying to contain China, he added.

The language signals a potential turnaround in coal imports into China, particularly as fears around a shortage of Russian supplies grow.

A wind back in supply with high demand would see prices continue surging to new highs, past the record levels already set in 2022.

That would mean China removing restrictions when procuring Australian imports of metallurgical coal.

For ASX 200 miners like Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) and Yancoal Ltd (ASX: YAL), this could potentially bode in well.

The shares are down and up 1% each respectively today.

The post Will it flip? Rumours stir up interest in ASX 200 coal mining shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here’s why ASX 200 coal shares are firing up today
• ASX 200 midday update: Telstra completes acquisition, Lake Resources and Bega Cheese sink
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Why Block, Megaport, Navigator Global, and Whitehaven Coal shares are rising

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is up 2% in the last 24 hours to US$20,574 (AU$30,429).

That puts the world’s largest token by market cap up 7% two weeks into the nascent 2023 financial year (FY23).

FY22, as we covered here, presented two dramatically different halves for the crypto.

The first half saw the Bitcoin price hit all-time highs of US$68,790 on 10 November. The second half saw it sharply reverse course, tumbling 72% by 30 June and notching a 55% fall for the financial year just past.

That was then.

The question crypto investors have now is, what’s ahead in FY23?

What’s ahead for the Bitcoin price in FY23?

Gauging the 12-month price outlook for assets as notoriously volatile as cryptos is no precise science. To say the least.

What we can do is look at what impacted the Bitcoin price over the past year and extrapolate from that what may be in store for FY23.

The real bugbear for most all cryptos in the second half of FY22 was the changing outlook for inflation and interest rates.

Bitcoin and most other risk assets, like high growth tech shares, were riding high in the first half of FY22 based on investor assumptions that inflation and interest rates would remain at historically low levels into 2024, or beyond.

Of course, you know how that assumption worked out.

With inflation numbers running hot, central banks – led by the US Federal Reserve – flip-flopped and began issuing hawkish signals and instituting a series of aggressive rate rises.

This saw cryptos and tech shares crash, with the tech heavy NASDAQ falling 31% from its own record highs in November through to the end of FY22.

As for the Bitcoin price reaction, as eToro’s market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters explained:

Crypto markets are very sensitive to US markets, in particular to monetary policy decisions from the Fed to combat rising inflation. The raising of interest rates and rising bond yields have affected US equity valuations and, by extension, crypto markets in recent months.

If the correlation between Bitcoin and the Fed’s policies continues through FY23, then the price will follow a similar trend to what we can expect to see on indexes like the NASDAQ.

In other words, keep your eye on the Fed.

But could Bitcoin decouple from equity markets?

Can cryptos decouple from share markets?

Tony Sycamore, market analyst at City Index, noted the Bitcoin price’s surprising strength in the wake of Wednesday’s scorching inflation numbers out of the US.

“Signs of resilience emerged that indicate Bitcoin may be closer to a bottom than some may think,” he said.

According to Sycamore:

The shockingly high inflation numbers postpone expectations for a dovish Fed pivot and have again raised the prospect of more aggressive Fed rate hikes.

In months gone past, this combination would have been enough to see Bitcoin fall into an abyss. However, after initially falling 3% to a low of US$18,905 after the release of the inflation number, Bitcoin closed 4.7% higher at US$20,230. An unexpected sign of strength and decoupling from the equity market.

Mati Greenspan, CEO of Quantum Economics, said there’s no underlying reason why the token should lose ground alongside other risk assets (courtesy of Bloomberg):

At the moment, Bitcoin is correlating downward with other risk assets but there isn’t any fundamental reason for it to do that. Once it breaks correlation with the stock market, Bitcoin’s price will better reflect its true value.

Will FY23 see Bitcoin break its correlation with growth shares?

Time will tell.

The post Will the US Fed continue to influence the Bitcoin price in the 2023 financial year? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here’s Bitcoin’s only path to $300,000
• Why are Bitcoin miners shutting down in Texas?
• Is the Bitcoin price heading down to US$10,000? Here’s Wall Street’s take
• What went so right and so wrong for the Bitcoin price in the 2022 financial year?
• Why did the Bitcoin price crash 41% in June?

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares tumbled towards the week’s end today, with the materials sector leading the downturn. The index closed 0.68% lower at 6,605.60 points.

It followed a rough session on Wall Street overnight. The S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) slumped 0.3% in Thursday’s session overseas while the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) fell 0.46%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) posted a slight gain of 0.03%.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) plunged more than 3% on Friday, driven lower by commodity prices and quarterly earnings from Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO).  

Most base metals fell overnight. The price of nickel led the fall, slipping 8.3%, while gold futures fell 1.7% to US$1,705.80. Iron ore futures also disappointed, posting a 4.8% tumble to US$104.96.

Today wasn’t all dire, however. The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index (ASX: XSJ) recorded a gain of around 1%.

At the end of today’s session, five of the ASX 200’s 11 sectors were in the green.

So, which ASX shares defied the downturn to post the biggest gains on Friday? Read on to find out.

Top 10 ASX shares countdown

The best performing share of the ASX’s 200 biggest companies by market capitalisation was none other than Genesis Energy Ltd (ASX: GNE).

The ASX-listed New Zealand electricity generator’s shares lifted around 4% on Friday. Take a look at what the company’s been up to here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made by these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Genesis Energy Ltd (ASX: GNE)	$2.50	4.17%
WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)	$44.13	3.42%
Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS)	$4.25	2.66%
Latitude Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: LFS)	$1.60	2.56%
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)	$2.25	2.27%
Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC)	$11.59	2.2%
Growthpoint Properties Australia Ltd (ASX: GOZ)	$3.61	1.98%
APA Group (ASX: APA)	$12.01	1.95%
ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD)	$33.11	1.94%
Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)	$3.80	1.88%

Data as at 4.30pm AEST.

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Coles share price claims new 52-week high, could it still be a buy?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• Why Ardent Leisure, Michael Hill, National Storage, and WiseTech shares are rising
• Australia’s unemployment rate is at a 48-year low. What’s this mean for ASX 200 shares?
• Why is the Newcrest share price slipping to a new 52-week low on Friday?

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Cochlear Ltd., ResMed Inc., and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended ResMed. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET, ResMed Inc., and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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