The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower following tech-driven declines on Wall Street, with consumer confidence data due later today.
ASX futures were down 0.1% to 8,626. The ASX 200 fell by 0.7% to 8,635.00 yesterday, with nine of its 11 sectors closing out the session lower, though tech stocks were flat.
December’s Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index is due at 10:30 am AEDT. In November, sentiment grew by 12.8% to reach a seven-year high.
“November marks the first ‘net positive’ read on consumer sentiment in the best part of four years,” said Westpac head of Australian macro-forecasting Matthew Hassan at the time. Confidence in the economic outlook over both the next year and next five years were each up more than 15%.
On Wall Street, the slump in tech stocks has continued, with the Nasdaq Composite closing 0.6% lower.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.1%. The Nasdaq, S&P, and Dow’s tech indexes were each down 0.1%.
Shares in Broadcom fell by 5.6% and Oracle slipped 2.7%, extending their declines after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings last week. Alphabet, AMD, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Salesforce also ended the session lower as investors rotated away from artificial intelligence-related stocks.
The United States’ November nonfarm payrolls data and October retail sales figures will be released on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), having been delayed due to the government shutdown in October and November.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year rates were 0.1% lower apiece at 4.706% and 9.975%, respectively.
