Australian stocks are set to fall when trading starts this morning, with ASX futures predicting a drop of 53 points or 0.7% to 7,980 points.
US sharemarkets closed mixed on Monday, as early gains faded and investor caution took precedence ahead of major economic releases later this week.
Nasdaq weighed by tech
The Dow Jones rose by 114 points or 0.3% to 40,227.59, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% to 5,528.75.
The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1% to 17,366.13, weighed by losses in Information Technology, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary sectors.
As the federal election looms in Australia, the national average price of a litre of unleaded petrol inched 0.7 cents lower to 178.1 cents in the week to Sunday.
Weekly data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum details the fall, which still places the average below the 12-month average figure of 184.4 cents.
Leading the declines on Wall Street, shares in Nvidia fell 2% following reports that Huawei is set to test its new Ascend 910D chip, a direct competitor to Nvidia’s AI processors.
Kraft Heinz fell more than 2% ahead of earnings results due Tuesday. IBM shares rose 1.6% after announcing a US$150 billion investment into domestic operations over the next five years.
Euro stocks bounce
European markets ended higher, although gains moderated late in the session. Healthcare and banking sectors led advances in the FTSEurofirst 300 index, which rose by 0.5% to 2,077.38.
The UK FTSE 100 index closed virtually unchanged, up by 2 points at 8,417.34.
Airbus shares gained 2.6% after it agreed to acquire key assets from Spirit AeroSystems, while Boeing shares advanced 2.4% in US trading.
Bond yields in the United States fell as investors positioned ahead of upcoming growth, inflation, and employment data.
The 10-year Treasury yield dropped 6 basis points to 4.21%, while the two-year yield fell 7 basis points to 3.69%.
Currencies and commodities
On the currency front, the US dollar weakened against major peers. The Euro climbed to US$1.1420, while the Australian dollar traded around US64.28 cents, having earlier touched a low of 63.68 US cents.
Oil prices fell sharply as traders assessed the likelihood of increased supply from OPEC+ against a backdrop of slowing global growth.
Brent crude slipped 1.5% to US$65.86 a barrel, and US Nymex crude fell 1.5% to US$62.05 a barrel.
Gold futures surged, with prices up 1.5% or US$49.30 to US$3,347.70 an ounce, supported by a weaker US dollar. Spot gold was last trading near US$3,343 an ounce.
Base metals were mixed; copper futures rose 0.1%, while aluminium futures dipped 0.2%. Iron ore futures eased by 1 US cent to US$99.91 a tonne.
Looking ahead, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) assistant governor for financial markets Christopher Kent is scheduled to deliver a speech.
In the US a raft of economic data is due, including trade figures, home prices, job vacancies and consumer confidence surveys.
Major corporate earnings results are also expected from Coca-Cola, General Motors, Kraft Heinz, Pfizer, Royal Caribbean, Snap, Spotify, Starbucks, Super Micro Computer, UPS and Visa.