Australian shares set to track gains on Wall Street
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher for its last trading session of the March quarter, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as investors pin hopes on interest rate cuts later this year. s
The numbers: The Dow Jones index closed 1.23% higher, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.88% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.51%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 60 points or 0.76% at 7,930 points at 7:00am AEDT on Thursday.
The context: The Dow led US stocks higher, while the S&P 500 set a fresh closing record, as investors await the next piece of inflation data and commentary from Federal Reserve policymakers for signals on the rate path.
The Fed kept its projections for three rate cuts this year intact at its policy meeting last week, which US central bank officials have largely stood by this week in comments. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, is due on Good Friday, when the US stock market will be closed.
In the local market too, investors will be keeping an eye on retail sales data for February, due at 11:30am AEDT, for clues on the slowdown in the economy.
The source: Reuters
