CANBERRA: The Australian market looks set to open flat after Wall Street’s session hovers around its previous levels, with the Dow remaining above the historic 20,000 mark, as investors digest the latest round of earnings reports. At 7.00am (AEDT) on Friday, the share price futures index was down two points at 5,649. In the US, stocks were little changed in the wake of a two-day rally that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average above the 20,000-point mark, as investors grappled with the latest round of earnings. Qualcomm weighed on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as the chipmaker fell after posting a lower-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue.
A solid start to earnings season and optimism over US President Donald Trump’s pro-growth initiatives, has given the benchmark S&P 500 its best two-day performance in seven weeks and catapulted the Dow above the historic level. Trump’s business-friendly decisions since taking office include signing executive orders to reduce regulatory burden on domestic manufacturers and clearing the way for the construction of two oil pipelines. Locally, in economic news on Friday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases the international trade price indexes and the producer price indexes, both for the December quarter. No major equities news is expected.
