Australian shares to start higher after Wall Street rally

The news: The Australian sharemarket is poised for early gains after major indices on Wall Street closed higher on the back of earnings momentum.

The numbers: The Dow Jones index rose 1.58% lower, the broader S&P 500 gained 1.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 1.14% higher. In the local market, ASX 200 futures were trading 29 points or 0.43% higher at 6810 points at 0700 AEDT on Tuesday.

The context: The overnight shares rally came as the US third-quarter earnings season reached its halfway point, with a heavy majority of the S&P 500 companies having beaten Wall Street estimates. It also comes ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) two-day monetary policy meeting starting Tuesday, which is expected to culminate in a decision to let the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50%.

What they said: "Today is an earnings rebound," Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York told Reuters. "The market got oversold, and the reality is that earnings have been pretty good, the U.S. economy continues to chug along, and is likely to do so in the fourth quarter and into the first part of next year."