Australian shares to track Wall Street lower on tariff concerns

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower, tracking losses on Wall Street as investors awaited information about long-promised US tariffs on automotive imports.

The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: down 37 points or 0.46% at 8,013 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.31%, S&P 500 down 1.12%, Nasdaq down 2.04%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.30%, CAC 40 down 0.96%, DAX down 1.17%
• Spot gold: down 0.01% to USD3,019.72 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent up 1.23% to USD73.92/bbl, US WTI up 1.16% to USD69.80/bbl
• AUD: down 0.17% at 62.93 US cents
• Bitcoin: down 0.22% to USD87,302.82.

The context: All three major US stock indices ended lower, dragged down by Nvidia and Tesla, with US President Donald Trump set to announce plans for car-industry tariffs, widening the global trade war he kicked off this year. The move is expected to drive up prices and stall production as investors brace for retaliatory measures from trading partners and potential ripple effects on the global economy and businesses. A survey revealed a decline in optimism among top US business executives in the first quarter.

What to watch: The Australian Bureau of Statistics will publish updated Household Spending data for January at 11.30am; Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's Budget reply to the House of Representatives in Canberra this evening.