Australian shares set to rise after Wall Street gains

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher after US indices hit a near two-week high as softer producer prices data reinforced bets of an impending interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 1.04% higher, while the broader S&P 500 rose 1.68% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 2.43%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 57 points or 0.73% to 7,827 points at 7am AEST on Wednesday.

The context: Information technology and consumer discretionary were the top sector performers. US stocks rose after producer prices increased less than expected in July as a rise in the cost of goods was tempered by cheaper services, indicating that US inflation continued to moderate. In the 12 months through July, the PPI increased 2.2% after climbing 2.7% in June.

Investors now await the all-important US consumer-price figures for July later on Wednesday and retail sales data on Thursday to firm bets on an aggressive rate cut by the US central bank. The market now sees a 55% chance of a 50-basis-point rate cut by the Fed, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.