Australian shares seen flat after mixed Wall Street session

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start flat, with investors eyeing a busy week of local earnings after a mixed session on Wall Street on Friday.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index closed 0.14% lower, but the broader S&P 500 gained 0.57% to close above 5,000 points for the first time ever and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.25%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading unchanged at 7595 points at 7:00am AEDT on Monday.

The context: Two of the three major US indices ended higher on Friday with a boost from mega-caps and semiconductor stocks, including Nvidia hitting a record high as investors bet on artificial intelligence technology. Earlier, data showed US monthly consumer prices rose less than initially estimated in December, but underlying inflation remained a tad warm, clouding expectations on the timing of interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Market participants are awaiting data on January consumer prices this week for more clues. In the local market, the focus will be on earnings with JB Hi-Fi, CSL, CBA and Telstra among the companies reporting this week.