Australian shares to start lower despite fresh highs on Wall Street

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to start lower despite major indices on Wall Street hitting a fresh high on Friday as upbeat company forecasts and US jobs data fuelled expectations the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this month.

The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: down 25 points or 0.3% at 8,420 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.28%, S&P 500 up 0.25%, Nasdaq up 0.81%.
• Europe: FTSE 100 down 0.49%, CAC 40 up 1.31%, DAX up 0.13%
• Spot gold: up 0.06% to USD2,633.37 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent down 1.35% to USD71.12/barrel, US WTI down 1.61% to USD67.20/bbl
• AUD: up 0.06% at 63.93 US cents
• Bitcoin: down 0.01% to USD99,862.32.

The context: A US Labor Department report showed job growth surged in November, but an increase in the unemployment rate to 4.2% pointed to an easing labor market.

Following the data, US rate futures were pricing in roughly a 90% chance the Fed will lower interest rates by 25 basis points at its policy meeting on 17-18 December.