The ASX 200 is set to open higher after stable employment figures and a Dow Jones record high, though technology stocks could slip further following a dip in the Nasdaq.
ASX 200 futures were up 1.1% to 8,682. The ASX 200 closed at 8,592.0 yesterday.
Australia’s unemployment rate was steady at 4.3%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said yesterday. Underemployment rose from 5.7% to 6.2%.
“The unemployment rate has remained at 4.3 per cent in five of the last six months. Both the number of unemployed and employed people fell in November, by 2,000 and by 21,000 respectively,” said ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick.
Meanwhile, the ASX’s technology index closed at 3,425.90 yesterday after dropping 1.41%. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.3% lower, dented by weaker-than-expected earnings from Oracle that sent its shares down by 10.8%.
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) said its annual spending would be $15 billion higher than it had previously projected, and sales growth fell short of estimates.
Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares also decreased by 1.6% after Oracle’s earnings miss as investors exited artificial intelligence stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.3%, supported by both yesterday’s 0.25% rate cut from the Federal Reserve and investors moving away from AI stocks. The Dow Jones’ technology index declined 0.7% despite this rise.
The S&P 500 was up 0.21%, with its technology index down 0.6%.
On the bond markets, Australian 10-year and 2-year bond yields held steady at 4.724% and 4.043%, respectively.
