Wall Street has ended the day lower, as investors take a breather before earnings season kicks off this week.
What happened on Wall St?
The US is currently celebrating its Colombus Day public holiday — so banks were closed, but the stock market was open. Naturally, trading volume were lighter than usual.
Although there were gains from technology giants like Microsoft, it was not enough to offset a drop in General Electric and healthcare shares.
Today's weakest performing index was the S&P 500, which fell 0.2 per cent to 2,545. However, it has lifted by 14 per cent in the year to date.
Last week, the S&P hit record highs, as investor sentiment was boosted by hopes of US President Donald Trump delivering on his much-touted corporate taxes.
A few of the major banks will report their third-quarter results in the next few days, including Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Third-quarter S&P 500 earnings are expected to grow by about 4.8 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data — which is a lot lower than the previous quarters.
In the first and second quarters, US earnings surged by about 15.5 and 11 per cent respectively.
Gold prices also jumped higher overnight (up 0.7 per cent) as geopolitical tensions continue to rise.
The United States and Turkey have stopped issuing visas to each other's citizens, as their diplomatic stand-off continues.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump on the weekend warned that "only one thing will work" to contain North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Australian market
Taking into account Wall Street's negative lead, and ASX futures falling by 0.3 per cent, the Australian share market may open flat or slightly lower today.
In local economic news, today's focus will be the latest NAB's monthly business survey.
Last month's results (August figures) highlighted the significant divergence between conditions and confidence.
While business conditions rose to +15, their highest levels since the global financial crisis (early 2008), business confidence took a beating — down 7 points to +5.
The Australian dollar has fallen slightly (-0.14pc) to 77.6 US cents.
But ANZ's Giulia Specchia warned: "The Australian dollar is likely to remain defensive today, as early indicators suggest the NAB survey may show signs of deterioration."
