Investing.com - Despite Wall Street's struggle to maintain modest gains, Australian shares are positioned for an uptick. This scenario unfolds as investors await the December US jobs report. Both oil and iron ore prices have softened, while gold has seen a slight increase.
ASX futures were up 21 points or 0.3% to 7491 as of 8 am AEDT. The Australian dollar fell by 0.4% to 67.03 US cents, while Bitcoin increased by 3.6% to $US44,437 by 8.54 am AEDT. On Wall Street, the Dow slightly increased by 0.03% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell by 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.
US stocks continued to decline after the Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes revealed a high level of uncertainty surrounding interest-rate projections. Policymakers did not rule out further rate hikes. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, marking its third down day to start the year.
In commodities, spot gold rose by 0.1% to $US2042.64/oz, Brent crude oil fell by 0.7% to $US77.72 a barrel, and iron ore dropped by 1.2% to $US140.95 a tonne. The yield on the US 10-year note was 8 basis points higher at 4.00%.
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Short-term sell signals have been triggered, according to JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) strategists. They noted that a break below the S&P 500 Index's December pattern support of 4694 would confirm a trend reversal, seeking next support at the 4607 summer peak and then the 4500-4537 cluster of levels.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was hit with a second downgrade this week due to concerns over iPhone demand in China. Meanwhile, the CEO of Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg, sold nearly half a billion dollars of the company's shares in the final two months of 2023.
The key data point to watch is the December US nonfarm payrolls report, which is scheduled for release at 12.30 am Saturday AEDT. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) estimates that payrolls increased by 180,000 in December. The unemployment rate is expected to have risen to 3.8%.
There is no local data scheduled for release today. Overseas data to be released include Eurozone CPI and PPI, US December jobs report, November factory orders and durable goods orders, and the December ISM non-manufacturing index.