Australian shares seen steady after mixed Wall Street session
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is seen unchanged after a mixed session on Wall Street, where investors braced for a slew of US economic data this week to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.36% lower, while the broader S&P 500 ended nearly flat and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.21%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were unchanged at 7,759 points at 7am AEST on Tuesday.
The context: US stocks struggled for direction as investors awaited the US consumer price index reading on Wednesday as well as retailers earnings to assess demand by shoppers. The CPI data is expected to show headline inflation accelerated 0.2% in July from June, but was unchanged at 3% on a year-on-year basis.
Figures for July US retail sales on Thursday are likely to show marginal growth, and investors expect that any weakness in the data could reignite fears of a consumer slowdown and a potential recession. Retail giants Walmart and Home Depot are also due to report earnings later this week.
Money markets are evenly betting on a 25- or 50-basis-point cut in US interest rates in September, expecting a total easing of 100 bps by the end of 2024, CME's FedWatch Tool showed.
In the local market, traders will be focused on June quarter wage price index data at 11:30am as well as earnings reports from CSL, Challenger, Seek and James Hardie Industries.
The source: Reuters
