Australian shares to open higher, tracking gains on Wall Street
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start higher after overnight gains on Wall Street following China's announcement of a sweeping stimulus package.
The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.20% higher, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.25% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.56%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were up 25 points or 0.3% at 8,230 points at 7am AEST on Wednesday.
The context: US stocks ended higher, shrugging off weak consumer confidence data, on the back of gains in mining stocks.
The indices initially trimmed gains after a report from the conference board revealed an unexpected decline in US consumer confidence in September, driven by growing concerns about the labour market's health.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman cautioned that key inflation measures remained "uncomfortably above" the Fed's 2% target, warranting caution as the Fed proceeds with cutting interest rates.
Weekly jobless claims and personal consumption expenditure data remain the key focus this week.
In the local market, investors will focus on August inflation data due at 11:30am.
The source: Reuters
