The news: Australian shares are poised to climb at the open after the S&P 500 touched a record high overnight and tracked its fifth straight advance.
The numbers: Updated at 7:40am AEDT:
* ASX futures: up 44 points, or 0.49% to 8,994.
* Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.86%, S&P 500 up 0.48% and the Nasdaq up 1.09%.
* Europe: CAC 40 up 0.27%, DAX down 0.15% and FTSE 100 up 0.58%.
* Spot gold: up 2.64% to USD5,143 per ounce.
* Oil prices: Brent up 2.65% to USD67.33/bbl and US WTI up 2.64% to USD62.23/bbl.
* AUD: up 1.05% at 69.85 US cents.
* Bitcoin: up 0.64% to USD88,769.
The context: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq extended recent gains overnight, while the Dow Jones retreated, as the US dollar fell to an almost four-year low and gold held above USD5,000.
Health insurers weighed on the Dow after the Trump administration proposed an increase in Medicare insurer payment rates. Humana (-20.5%), United Health (-19.9%) and CVS (-14.3%) all plunged.
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