Australian shares set to gain after tech rally on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher as investors track gains on Wall Street where Netflix led a rally among technology-related stocks.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index is trading just 0.01% higher, but the broader S&P 500 hit an all-time high for the third time in four sessions to be up 0.37%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.68%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 15 points or 0.2% higher at 7503 points at 7:00am AEDT on Thursday.

The context: US stocks gained on a wave of optimism about corporate earnings. A surge in Netflix shares after blowout results led heavyweight tech stocks higher while upbeat results from manufacturing equipment maker ASML resulted in all-round gains for chip makers. On the data front, a survey showed US business activity picked up in January and inflation appeared to abate, suggesting the economy kicked off 2024 on a strong note. A resilient US economy and uncertainty over the timing of interest rate cuts have led investors to reassess their bets on the timing of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Among local stocks, ResMed will release results on Thursday.