Australian shares to slip despite Wall Street lift

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to dip ahead of a busy earnings week despite a firm close on Wall Street where worries of an economic downturn in the world's largest economy eased.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index ended 0.24% higher, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.20% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.21%. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were down 14 points or 0.18% to 7,898 points at 7am AEST on Monday.

The context: US indices recorded their biggest weekly percentage gains of the year as stocks recouped losses from a tailspin two weeks ago and investors focused on the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium next week. Data on Friday showed US single-family housing starts dropped to a near 1-1/2-year low in July, while August consumer sentiment showed stronger-than-expected improvement.

Global central bank officials will speak at the symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell's keynote speech on Friday potentially setting expectations for a US rate cut trajectory. Financial markets are betting on a 74.5% likelihood that the Fed will cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points as it ends its September policy meeting.