Australian shares poised for gains after mixed Wall Street session
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher despite a mixed session on Wall Street where cautious comments by Fed chair Jerome Powell limited gains.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index closed just 0.09% lower while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.14% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.23%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 26 points or 0.33% at 7855 points at 7:00am AEDT on Thursday.
The context: US indices edged higher after data showed growth in the US services industry — which accounts for two-thirds of the economy — slowed further in March.
However, the advance was limited after Powell reaffirmed that the Fed will stick to its wait-and-see approach as it considers when to start cutting rates given the continued strength of the US economy and recent higher-than-expected inflation data.
Traders were pricing in a 57% chance the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in June, according to CMEGroup's FedWatch tool, down from about 64% a week ago.
The source: Reuters
