Australian shares set to track Wall Street rebound

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to track a tech-led rebound on Wall Street a day after the US Federal Reserve dashed hopes for early rate cuts.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index is trading 0.74% higher, while the broader S&P 500 climbed 0.94% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.04%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 26 points or 0.34% higher at 7573 points at 7:00am AEDT on Friday.

The context: US stocks bounced back as investors looked ahead to a spate of high-profile earnings, the day after the Fed reset market expectations of a dovish pivot by the central bank in the first quarter. The tech-laden Nasdaq was out in front, with results from Apple, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms expected after the closing bell. Meanwhile, a raft of economic data showed rising productivity helping to cap labour costs, while an increase in announced layoffs and weekly jobless claims provided further evidence of softening in the labour market.