Australian shares to slip after nerves on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised to open lower, tracking declines on Wall Street where investors turned cautious a day ahead of the Federal Reserve's last policy announcement of the year.

The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: down 18 points or 0.22% at 8,306 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.75%, S&P 500 up 0.47%, Nasdaq down 0.36%
• Europe: FTSE 100 down 0.81%, CAC 40 up 0.12%, DAX down 0.33%
• Spot gold: down 0.23% to USD2,646.57 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent down 0.83% to USD73.30/barrel, US WTI down 0.72% to USD70.20/bbl
• AUD: down 0.57% at 63.35 US cents
• Bitcoin: up 0.45% to USD106,366.90

The context: While the market is betting on a quarter point rate cut by the US central bank on Thursday AEDT, investors are nervously focused on the Fed's summary of economic projections (SEP), which may indicate how aggressive it will be in cutting rates in 2025. The Fed may slow its easing in an economy that appears to have solid momentum and sticky inflation, and as the incoming Trump administration is expected to impose policies to stimulate growth and potentially reignite rising prices.

What to Watch: Annual general meeting for National Australia Bank.