Australian shares set to track gains on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to rise in early trading, tracking steady gains on Wall Street, as investors await key company earnings, economic data and the Federal Reserve policy meeting this week.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index is trading just 0.08% higher, while the broader S&P 500 climbed 0.24% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.53%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 38 points or 0.5% higher at 7580 points at 7:00am AEDT on Tuesday.

The context: US stock indices advanced modestly ahead of a busy week. A spate of high profile earnings reports including Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta, General Motors and Exxon Mobil are due this week. Upcoming economic data includes the US job openings and labor turnover survey, and the January employment report. But traders are most focused on the two-day Federal Open Markets Committee monetary policy meeting, at which its voting members are widely expected to leave the key Fed funds target rate unchanged but provide clues on the trajectory of rate cuts through 2024.