Australia

Please note: we will be discontinuing the Global Markets Report after 28 February.

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US stocks slipped on inflation concerns.

ASX futures were up 0.04% or 4 points as of 8:30am on Thursday, suggesting a higher open.

US stocks traded mostly lower after the consumer price index rose 3% in January from a year earlier, likely derailing the prospect for Federal Reserve rate cuts anytime soon. Fed Chair Powell told congress that "we're not quite there yet," on inflation.

CVS Health shares jumped 15% after earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations, while Chevron lost 1.6% after saying it plans to cut its workforce up to 20%, as part of an effort to reduce costs.

DJIA fell 225 points, or 0.5%, to 44,368, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% to 6,051 and the Nasdaq posted a slight gain to 19,649

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 2.58% to US$75.01 a barrel, while gold was up 0.16% to US$2,902.48.

The Australian dollar was at 62.85 US cents, down from its previous close of 62.93.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9% to 3,346.39, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.3% to 2,033.97.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 2.6% to 21,857.92.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.4% to 38,963.7.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX declined 0.2% to 76,171.08.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index lifted 0.3% to 8,807.44.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 0.5% to 22,148.03, and France's CAC 40 increased 0.2% to 8,042.19.

North America

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA fell 0.5% to 44,368.56, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 6,051.97, and the Nasdaq was unchanged at 19,649.95.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were CVS Health Corp CVS surging 14.95%, Generac Holdings Inc GNRC jumped 7.56%, and Gilead Sciences Inc GILD lifted 7.46%.

The biggest decliners were Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp WAB which dropped 9.06%, Arista Networks Inc ANET fell 6.16%, and Waters Corp WAT lost 5.77%.