Australian shares to edge lower tracking Wall Street stumble

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start marginally lower, tracking a slight decline on Wall Street, with investors focused on corporate earnings and remarks from policymakers.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index is trading 0.02% lower and the broader S&P 500 is down 0.04% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.16%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading just 4 points or 0.05% lower at 7591 points at 7:00am AEDT on Friday.

The context: Major US indices took a breather as the focus remained on corporate earnings, with small-caps outperforming the heavyweight stocks. On the economic data front, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly more than expected last week, suggesting underlying labour market strength. In the local market, investors will be focused on RBA governor Michele Bullock’s appearance before a parliamentary committee at 9:30am AEDT.