Australian shares set to dip ahead of RBA meeting, earnings

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised to start lower despite a rally on Wall Street on Friday, as local traders turn cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank rate decision and a slew of earnings this week.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.35% higher on Friday, while the broader S&P 500 climbed 1.07% to notch an all-time closing high and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.74%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 54 points or 0.7% lower at 7608 points at 7:00am AEDT on Monday.

The context: US stocks ended sharply higher as strong earnings and a blowout January employment report boosted confidence in the economy. The rally capped a week filled with solid quarterly earnings from Meta, Amazon and Apple. Meanwhile, data showed the US added 353,000 jobs in January, blasting past analysts' estimates, while wage growth unexpectedly heated up, underlining the strength in the economy. In the local market, investors’ eyes are firmly fixed on the RBA’s first board meeting of the year on Tuesday, as well as key earnings this week including from AGL Energy, Mirvac, Transurban and REA Group.