The ASX is set to open lower today as markets anticipate the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting on Tuesday, despite the United States S&P 500 rising on Friday (Saturday AEDT).
ASX 200 futures slipped by 0.2% to 8,620 points. The ASX 200 finished last week 0.2% higher at 8,634.6.
The RBA’s final meeting of 2025 is on Tuesday, with markets expecting cash rates to be held steady at 3.6%. Employment data for November is also due on Thursday.
“There is a growing accumulation of evidence that capacity is shrinking, risks to inflation sit more to the upside than downside and the cash rate is not as restrictive as first thought,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s head of Australia economics Belinda Allen.
“We do not think a rate hike will be explicitly considered in December, but neither would a rate cut.”
In the U.S., the S&P 500 finished 0.2% higher on Friday, buoyed by better-than-expected inflation data, a likely rate cut this week, and Netflix’s agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio and streaming businesses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up 0.2% on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.4%.
The Federal Reserve is overwhelmingly expected to cut interest rates by 0.5% on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), according to CME Fedwatch. The Fed previously cut rates in September and October.
U.S. personal consumption expenditures for September grew by 0.2% monthly and by 2.8% annually, according to last week’s data. The monthly rate was in line with Dow Jones forecasts, while the annual rate was 0.1 percentage point better than estimates.
