Australian shares to fall as Wall St stumbles on confidence fears

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised to open lower after the sell-off on Wall Street extended further amid a sharp rise in US consumer pessimism.

The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: down 12 points or 0.15% at 8,209 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.17%, S&P 500 down 0.56%, Nasdaq down 1.37%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.11%, CAC 40 down 0.49%, DAX down 0.07%
• Spot gold: down 1.34% to USD2,912.25 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent down 2.21% to USD73.13/ barrel, US WTI down 2.31% to USD69.07/bbl
• AUD: down 0.05% at 63.46 US cents
• Bitcoin: down 2.97% to USD88,809.72.

The context: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched one-month lows overnight as a dour consumer confidence report put mounting economic uncertainties into sharp relief and prompted a selloff. The consumer confidence index registered its steepest monthly drop since August 2021, with rising uncertainties prompting a plunge in the near-term expectations, well below the level associated with impending recession. Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, energy was down the most, while Nvidia dropped 2% a day ahead of the chipmaker's much-anticipated quarterly earnings report.

What to watch: Monthly Consumer Price Index for January at 11.30am; earnings from Woolworths, Wisetech, Worley, Appen, Flight Centre, Bapcor, and Lynas Rare Earths, among others.