ASX to open lower despite new S&P 500 record
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The news: Australian shares are set to open slightly lower on Wednesday as the S&P 500 looks poised to set a new record before Christmas.
The ASX will close at 2:10pm AEDT in a shortened Christmas Eve trading session, with the exchange closed over Christmas and Boxing Day. It will reopen on Monday 29 December.
The numbers: Updated at 7:00am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 11 points to 8,798
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.17%, S&P 500 up 0.40% and Nasdaq up 0.51%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.21%, DAX up 0.23% and FTSE 100 up 0.24%
- Spot gold: up 1.04% to USD4,491 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.67% to USD62.48/bbl and US WTI up 0.71% to USD58.42/bbl
- AUD: up 0.61% at 66.97 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.97% to USD87,690.
The context: Wall Street climbed overnight as US GDP growth came in at its strongest level in two years. The GDP report showed the US economy grew in the September quarter at 4.3% on an annualised basis, well above the 3.2% economists were expecting and largely driven by consumer spending.
It pushed the S&P 500 index above 6,900 points heading into the final hour of trading, setting it up to break its all-time high set earlier this month. Nvidia (+2.7%) and Broadcom (+2.1%) led the market higher in a session in which US energy names rallied.
Gold continued its strong run into the end of the year, briefly breaking USD4,500 an ounce, and rallying alongside silver and London-traded copper.
The source: Bloomberg
