ASX set to rise as cooling US inflation lifts Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised to open higher, tracking gains on Wall Street where lower-than-expected inflation data helped calm nerves despite US President Donald Trump’s escalating tariff war.

The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: up 18 points or 0.23% at 7,799 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.20%, S&P 500 up 0.62%, Nasdaq up 1.35%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.53%, CAC 40 up 0.59%, DAX up 1.56%
• Spot gold: up 0.59% to USD2,933.05 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent up 2.03% to USD70.97/bbl, US WTI up 2.19% to USD67.70/bbl
• AUD: up 0.35% at 63.20 US cents
• Bitcoin: up 0.28% to USD83,126.30.

The context: Two of the three major US stock indices closed in positive territory due to a combination of cooling inflation and some bargain buying in tech stocks. That came after Labor Department data showed US consumer prices rose at a lower than anticipated 2.8% in February, the smallest gain since 2021. That reassured investors inflation is headed in the right direction and kept hopes alive that the US Federal Reserve could cut its key interest rate this year.

What to watch: The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release Monthly Business Turnover data for January at 11.30am.