The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher after traders gearing up for the latest US inflation data sent stocks toward fresh all-time highs overnight on Wall Street.
ASX 200 futures were up 33 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 8250 as of 6.59am EADT. The three main US stock indexes rose as investors digested Federal Reserve meeting minutes ahead of the September inflation figures and earnings reports, but Google parent Alphabet shares fell on fears the government would break up the tech giant.
Shares of Arcadium Lithium soared 30.9 per cent after Rio Tinto said late on Wednesday it would acquire the miner for $US6.7 billion ($10 billion).
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The market is awaiting the latest US inflation figures.Credit: Bloomberg
The Australian sharemarket faces a stronger morning after the local bourse finished Wednesday’s session flat, weighed down by energy and mining giants and investors still miffed by the lack of any big bang stimulus measures out of China, which saw China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index plunge.
US stocks held steady after the release of the Fed’s September meeting minutes showed a “substantial majority” of officials supported an outsized half-point rate cut. There was broader agreement that the move would not commit the Fed to any particular pace of cuts in the future.
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After the news, traders were slightly less optimistic about an easing in November, pricing in a 76 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point reduction in borrowing costs and a 24 per cent probability the Fed keeps rates on hold, according to CME’s FedWatch.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1 per cent higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6 per cent. Most S&P 500 industry sectors rose, although rate-sensitive utilities and real estate fell along with the communications services index, which includes Alphabet.
Shares in market heavyweight Alphabet were down 1.6 per cent after the US Department of Justice said it may ask a judge to force Google to divest parts of its business. These include its Chrome web browser and its Android operating system, to curtail its search monopoly.
