Australian shares set for flat start; Wall Street subdued

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised to start marginally lower in line with a subdued Wall Street, where investor attention returned to the likely path for interest rates.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index was down 0.04%, the broader S&P 500 lost 0.16% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.16%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were down just 2 points or 0.03% higher at 7,609 points at 7:00am AEDT on Tuesday.

The context: US stocks were barely changed as the focus shifted to economic data that could affect the timing of expected interest rate cuts. January's personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — due on Thursday could dampen the recent enthusiasm if the data indicates price pressures are not cooling fast enough.

In the local market, the focus will largely remain on company earnings with Coles and Woodside among the companies due to report on Tuesday.