Australian shares set to start higher as Wall Street treads water
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher even as Wall Street closed barely changed with investors awaiting key inflation data and bracing for quarterly earnings to kick off.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index closed 0.02% lower while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.14% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.32%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 24 points or 0.31% to 7889 points at 7:00am AEST on Wednesday.
The context: US stocks posted modest gains overall, a day ahead of major inflation data. The hotly anticipated Consumer Price Index is at the top of most investors' minds as they tweak expectations on the timing and extent of the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting phase. Analysts broadly expect inflation to continue meandering down toward the US central bank's 2% goal.
Meanwhile, investors are also bracing for major US banks to kick off earnings reporting season on Friday, and JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all ended lower.
In the local market, attention will be focused on building activity data due at 11:30am AEST and the New Zealand central bank’s rate decision due at midday.
The source: Reuters
