Australian shares seen flat after mixed Wall Street result
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open marginally lower after major indices on Wall Street ended mixed following the US Federal Reserve leaving its key interest rate unchanged.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.23% higher, but the broader S&P 500 fell 0.34% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.33%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were down 5 points or 0.07% to 7572 points at 7:00am AEST on Thursday.
The context: US stocks closed mixed after the Federal Reserve indicated that while its next move will likely be a rate cut, continued progress on inflation is not assured.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.50% with its statement leaving the timing of any rate cut in doubt. Fed officials underscored their concern that the first months of 2024 have done little to build the confidence they seek in falling inflation.
At the subsequent press conference, Fed chair Jerome Powell suggested that while the central bank remains focused on bringing inflation back to its 2% target, he dismissed the notion of an imminent rate hike.
In the local market, investors will be focused on March trade balance data as well as a quarterly update from Woolworths and half-year results from National Australia Bank.
What they said: "Powell didn't rock the boat very much. He acknowledged that inflation is still a problem but remained optimistic that it will improve over the coming quarters," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha told Reuters.
The source: Reuters
