The news: Australian shares are set to open marginally lower after US stocks fell overnight, led by a sell-off in technology and financial stocks as investors rotated into defensive sectors. The Nasdaq fell 1.5% on Wednesday, marking its worst decline in a month. The S&P 500 posted its first back-to-back losses of 2026 amid broad weakness across major technology stocks.
Meanwhile, small cap stocks continued to outperform, with the Russell 2000 beating the broader US market for a ninth consecutive session, matching its longest streak since 1990.
The numbers: Updated at 7:38am AEDT:
ASX futures: down 7 points, or 0.07% to 8,832.Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.12%, S&P 500 down 0.72% and the Nasdaq down 0.99%.Europe: CAC 40 down 0.19%, DAX down 0.53% and FTSE 100 up 0.46%.Spot gold: up 0.95% to USD4,630 per ounce.Oil prices: Brent down 2.97% to USD63.59/bbl and US WTI down 2.97% to USD59.42/bbl.AUD: up 0.03% at 66.84 US cents.Bitcoin: up 2.43% to USD97,650.
The context: US stocks moved lower overnight on Wall Street, dragged down by technology and financial stocks as the banks extended recent losses following mixed quarterly results. The S&P 500 bank index fell to a five-week low after Wells Fargo missed fourth quarter profit expectations, with severance costs weighing on results.
Other banks, including Citigroup and Bank of America, were also weaker despite beating Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit.
On the data front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will publish the Empire State Manufacturing Index for January, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will release the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index at 12:30am AEDT.
The European Central Bank will also publish its January economic bulletin, due at 8:00pm AEDT.
Locally, the Melbourne Institute will release its inflation expectations data for January at 11:00am AEDT.