Good morning traders. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the aftermarket loungers.

When asked what 2019 needs more off, the first thing to mind is not necessarily... more tariffs! But that's what we may be looking at, as his royal tariffness has shifted his focus back to the EU, threatening to impose more on things like helicopters, motorcycles, cheese, and wine. The EU also threaten retaliatory tariffs if those go ahead. There’s also some curious ones on the list, things like periscopes, travelling rugs, screwdrivers, wall clocks, and bikini’s. If they want to cause a recession, they are probably going about it in the right way. What a time to be alive.

ASX Market Report

Australian shares have closed flat, with US casino operator Wynn Resorts' $10 billion takeover offer for Crown Resorts providing most of the day's excitement.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,221.8 points on Tuesday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 4.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 6,315.5.

"Dead yesterday, and dead most of today, as far as any sort of macro move," said Nick Twidale, chief operating officer with Rakuten Securities. "It just seems like we need some sort of catalyst to give the market a shot in the arm."

Crown was the biggest gainer of the day, its shares surging 19.72 per cent to $14.05, a six-month high, after the James Packer-controlled gaming firm confirmed Wynn was discussing a $14.75-per-share proposal in cash and Wynn shares. Rival Star Entertainment Group also gained on the news, rising 5.42 per cent to $4.47.

The big banks and utilities were down, while energy stocks surged more than two per cent after fighting in Libya drove the price of benchmark Texas crude to a five-month high of $US64.40 a barrel.

Beach Energy jumped 5.45 per cent to $2.13, Oil Search gained 2.26 per cent to $8.15, Santos was up 2.93 per cent to $7.02 after announcing a "significant" gas find in South Australia, and Woodside Petroleum gained 2.72 per cent to $35.50.

All of the big banks were down, with Commonwealth falling 0.59 per cent to $70.25, ANZ down 0.58 per cent to $25.65, NAB down 0.45 per cent to $24.59 and Westpac down 0.15 per cent to $25.84.

The mining sector was overall flat, with BHP gaining 0.35 per cent to $40.03 and South32 falling 2.84 per cent to $3.77. Rio Tinto gained 0.10 per cent to $101.58.

Tech stocks saw gains, with Appen up 4.08 per cent to $23.48 after the machine learning dataset company said its $15 million share purchase price was 3.4 times oversubscribed.

An ANZ-Roy Morgan sentiment survey released before the start of trade suggested consumer confidence fell last week despite tax cuts announced in the federal budget. Mr Twidale said traders were likely waiting for news on a number of fronts, including Brexit, the US-China trade talks, the European Central Bank and a joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "It feels like something's going to happen this week," he said.

The Aussie dollar is buying 71.44 US cents, from 71.26 US cents on Monday.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,221.8 points at 1630 AEDT on Tuesday.

* The All Ordinaries was up 4.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 6,315.5.

* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down 13 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 6,197.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 71.44 US cents, from 71.26 US on Monday

* 79.55 Japanese yen, from 79.45

* 63.41 euro cents, from 63.29

* 54.57 British pence, from 54.55

* 105.81 NZ cents, from 105.71

Global Markets Report

The dollar fell and the rally in global equities lost steam on Tuesday as a U.S. threat to slap tariffs on hundreds of European goods and a downgrade by the International Monetary Fund in its global economic growth forecasts dimmed the appetite for risk.

The IMF warned that growth could slow further due to trade tensions and a potentially disorderly British exit from the European Union. China, Germany and other major economies might need to take short-term actions to prop up growth, the IMF said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers the Trump administration is preparing for the possibility of a “hard Brexit.”

Asian shares rose to an eight-month high overnight but U.S. and European markets fell after President Donald Trump welcomed the World Trade Organization’s finding that Europe’s subsidies to planemaker Airbus had hurt the United States.

The U.S. Trade Representative on Monday proposed a range of EU products, from large commercial aircraft and parts to dairy products and wine, to target as retaliation for subsidies given to Airbus.

Equities fell in Europe and on Wall Street, poised to snap an eight-day rally for the S&P 500, after an EU official said the European trade bloc was beginning preparations to retaliate over Boeing subsidies.

Asian shares hit an eight-month high as optimism about Chinese measures to boost economic growth lifted mainland markets, however, worries about U.S. earnings and a crucial Brexit summit this week limited gains.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.3 percent, hovering near its highest level since Aug. 9 last year.

Chinese blue chips advanced 0.15 percent as investors cheered a plan unveiled by China’s state planner on Monday to relax residency curbs in many of its smaller cities and increase infrastructure spending.

“The (Chinese A-share) market’s foundation for upward moves remains positive,” analysts at Kaiyuan Securities wrote in a note on Tuesday. “China’s monetary policy and fiscal policy both continue to be active, (we) don’t see the need for limiting liquidity in the short term.”

Uncertainty over tariffs and trade between the United States and China have dented business confidence and led corporate investment to dry up, said Hank Smith, co-chief investment officer at The Haverford Trust Co in Radnor, Pennsylvania. “Business investment is now being put on hold because of the uncertainty around tariffs,” he said. A weak U.S.-China trade deal probably is priced into the market, but a very good trade deal is not, Smith said. “Even if it’s not so good, it is going to have a positive effect on the economy because it is going to remove an uncertainty,” he said.

MSCI’s all-country world index, a gauge of stock performance in 47 countries, fell 0.37%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.47% and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares fell 0.41%.

Airbus said it saw no legal basis for the U.S. move toward imposing tariffs on its aircraft and warned of deepening trade tensions. Shares in Airbus fell 1.86% and many of its key suppliers lost between 0.7% and 1.2%. Boeing shares fell 1.5% ahead of its aircraft delivery and order numbers for March.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 207.09 points, or 0.79%, to 26,133.93. The S&P 500 lost 18.79 points, or 0.65%, to 2,876.98 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 38.62 points, or 0.49%, to 7,915.26.

The yen rose as traders favored the safe-haven currency in the wake of the U.S. proposal for tariffs on European goods.

The dollar index fell 0.04%, with the euro up 0.05% to $1.1265. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.35% versus the greenback at 111.11 per dollar.

U.S. Treasury yields slid, pressured by concerns about the IMF’s global economic outlook for 2019 as well as a round of headlines on Britain’s messy departure from the EU.

In Europe, government borrowing costs in southern countries hit fresh lows, pushed down by hopes that this week’s European Central Bank meeting will reinforce expectations for supportive policy measures in the months ahead.

Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes rose 6/32 in price to push yields down to 2.4953%.

Oil fell from a five-month high above $71 a barrel after Russia signaled a possible easing of a supply-cutting deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Brent, the global benchmark, rose to $71.34 a barrel, the highest since November, but later settled down 49 cents at $70.61 per barrel. U.S. crude also hit a November high of $64.79, but settled down 42 cents at $63.98.

Gold rose to its highest in more than a week as the dollar and equities weakened. U.S. gold futures settled 0.5% higher at $1,308.3 an ounce.

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Guess we’ll have to pick up the slack if the US aren’t interested, hope you all like wine and cheese, but please don’t drink and trade (you know who I’m talking about ).

Also a couple of intriguing Champions League match-ups under way, Tottenham V Man City in an all English derby (come on the spurs), and Liverpool take on unlikely quarter-finalists FC Porto.