Australian shares set to track gains on Wall Street
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher, tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors optimistic for a trade breakthrough between the US and China after the Trump administration delayed tariffs for Canada and Mexico.
The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 53 points or 0.64% at 8,396 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.27%, S&P 500 up 0.73%, Nasdaq up 1.29%
- Europe: FTSE 100 down 0.15%, CAC 40 up 0.66%, DAX up 0.36%
- Spot gold: up 0.94% to USD2,841.64 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.11% to USD75.88/barrel, US WTI down 0.97% to USD72.45/bbl
- AUD: up 0.51% at 62.59 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 3% to USD98,435.21
The context: Wall Street's main indices rose overnight on the back of energy stocks, with six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors trading higher.
Investors see China’s counter to new 10% US tariffs on Chinese imports as restrained and are hopeful leaders of the two countries would soon talk. I
In earnings-driven moves, PepsiCo fell 4.5% after it forecast annual profit below expectations. Estée Lauder slumped 14.8% as the cosmetics company posted another weak quarter. Merck dropped 10% after the drugmaker said it would pause shipments of Gardasil to China through at least mid-year.
What to watch: Alphabet and Snapchat quarterly earnings after the close of the US market; and half-year results from Amcor, BWP Trust and Centuria Office REIT.
The source: Bloomberg
