Australian shares are looking at a weak start this morning despite a solid ending to last week on Wall Street on Friday which saw all three major indexes close at new highs.
The overnight trading in ASX futures saw the share price Index close down 30 points, meaning a fall at the start of trading later this morning.
Wall Street stocks set more records on Friday, jumping sharply in late trade to end in higher territory once again after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in two days of congressional testimony bolstered investor expectations for an interest-rate cut at the end of the month.
The Dow rose 243.95 points, or 0.9%, to 27,332.03, the S&P 500 was up 13.86 points, or 0.46%, to 3,013.77 and the Nasdaq gained 48.10 points, or 0.59%, to end at 8,244.14.
For the week, the S&P 500 added 0.8%, the Dow was up 1.5% and the Nasdaq gained 1%. Friday’s gains added to highs set earlier in the week.
The story was different in Australia – the ASX 200 Index fell 54.8 points, or 0.8%, to 6696.5 while the All Ordinaries lost 43 points, or 0.6%, to end the week at 6788.8.
The market fell sharply at the start of the week after a strong US non-farm payrolls print undermined market hopes the Fed would cut rates at its July meeting.
Those doubts were dispelled mid-week however as Fed chair Powell’s testimony before Congress reversed those hopes for a cut later this month when the central bank holds a two-day meeting.
