Investing.com - As the new week commences, Australian stocks are predicted to make a slight advance, with all eyes set on the US August consumer price index, slated for release late Wednesday AEST, and the European Central Bank's rate meeting on Thursday.
By 9:15am AEST, ASX 200 Futures were down by 9 points or 0.1%, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing at 7156.7 on Friday, down by 14.3 points or 0.2%.
On the cryptocurrency front, Bitcoin experienced a minor setback, falling by 0.6% to $US25,699.
The yield on the US 10-year note saw a marginal uptick, increasing by 2 basis points to 4.26% in New York. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, shares navigated through a narrow range, swaying from gains to losses before closing the session with a slight increase. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) managed to break its two-day losing streak, with the tech giant preparing to unveil its latest iPhone model later in the week.
This week's local economic calendar includes business and consumer sentiment surveys as well as employment change data.
In the United States, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) has projected a promising outlook for the S&P 500. The investment bank believes that the balance of risks to its year-end price target of 4500 is skewed to the upside. From a valuation standpoint, the median S&P 500 stock trades at 17x today, 8% below the pre-pandemic peak of 19x.
Goldman Sachs also suggests that the Federal Reserve's period of rate hikes has ended, which could bolster investor confidence about a peak in bond yields. If real yields decline by 25 basis points and the real yield gap remains unchanged, it would imply an S&P 500 [next 12 months price to earnings ratio] of 19.5x and an index level of 4675 (+5%).