The ASX 200 Futures were down 0.1%, or about 10 points, to 8,259 this morning ahead of the release of ABS November inflation data and following a red session on Wall Street overnight.
Australia’s November CPI report is due from the ABS at 11.30am AEDT. Bloomberg economists expect it to show inflation falling to 2% year-on-year from 2.1% in October.
In month-on-month terms, a modest lift in fuel prices and higher food costs is expected to push prices higher.
While the data will be closely watched, the quarterly consumer prices figures — due January 29 — should play a greater role in the RBA’s next monetary policy decision.
US markets lower
US markets fell on Tuesday after a batch of upbeat US economic data spurred bets the US Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates again before July amid inflation pressures.
The major indices were unable to continue their two-day winning streak — the Dow Jones index fell by 178 points or 0.4%, the S&P 500 index slipped 1.1% and the Nasdaq index shed 375 points or 1.9%.
- Stocks were also dragged by a dip in shares of Nvidia, which slid 6.2% after hitting a record high. The company on Monday had unveiled new chips for desktop and laptop PCs that use the same Blackwell architecture.
- Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares slid 7.8% after analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:NYSE:MS) assumed coverage of the software company with an underweight rating.
- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 4.0% after Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) downgraded the electric vehicle maker given its high valuation and risks associated with its strategy.
- Meta Platforms and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell between 2.0% and 2.4%.
- Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares jumped 11.7% on its plans to develop a vaccine for bird flu.
- Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) rose 2.7% after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said the chipmaker was providing memory for the AI-bellwether's GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell family of gaming chips.
US government bond yields rose on Tuesday after US job openings lifted to a six-month high in November.
European markets were mixed overnight. The energy sector gained 0.8%, with Norwegian oil tanker group Frontline jumping 7.4%. The real estate sector lost 0.7%.
Annual inflation in the 20 nations sharing the euro picked up to 2.4% last month from 2.2% in November (survey: 2.4%). The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.3%. In London, the UK FTSE 100 index dipped 0.1%.
Currencies
Currencies were weaker against the US dollar in European and US trade.
- The Euro fell from US$1.0433 to session lows near US$1.0345 at the US close.
- The Aussie dollar dipped from US62.87 cents to US62.27 cents and was near US62.30 cents at the US close.
- The Japanese yen slid from 157.39 yen per US dollar to JPY158.39 and was near JPY157.90 at the US close.
Commodities
Global oil prices gained on Tuesday driven by concerns over tighter supply from Russia and Iran because of Western sanctions and expected higher Chinese demand.
- The Brent crude price rose US75 cents or 1.0% to US$77.05 a barrel.
- The US Nymex crude price added US69 cents or 0.9% to US$74.25 a barrel.
Base metal prices rose on Tuesday.
- Copper futures jumped 0.8%.
- Aluminium futures gained 0.9%, drawing support from a 16% fall in available aluminium stocks in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME).
The gold futures price rose US$18.00 or 0.7% to US$2,665.40 an ounce but pared earlier gains, pressured by a strengthening US dollar and Treasury yields after rising US job openings signalled diminishing odds of large rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.
- Spot gold was trading near US$2,650 an ounce at the US close.
Iron ore futures fell by US$1.60 or 1.6% to a seven-week low of US$97.84 a tonne on Tuesday, weighed down by rising stocks of the steelmaking ingredient and disappointment over a lack of further monetary stimulus in top consumer China.
What’s on?
In Australia, the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator is released with job vacancies data.
In the US, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) December 17-18 meeting minutes are issued. The ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) employment report is scheduled with data on initial jobless claims and consumer credit.
What’s happening in small caps?