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Earnings dominated Wall Street overnight, with the indexes having a mixed day. The Australian sharemarket is set to drop at the open, writes Kyle Rodda.

SPI Futures are presently indicating an 18-point jump at the open for the ASX200. Once again, Australian equities look as though they'll march to the beat of their own drum today. It comes on the back of a reasonably solid day for the ASX yesterday – though admittedly it was another day of relatively low activity.

A general driver for the session's activity was hard to pinpoint, perhaps fortunately, with the market trading much more on the basis of the myriad micro-concerns impacting individuals shares and sectors. It may be a dynamic that set not to last, as market participants prepare for a significant "macro" day today.

Read the full 8@eight here.

And here's the key economic data we're expecting today:

Local data: WBC Leading Index March; NZ CPI Q1

Overseas data: China industrial production March, retail sales March and GDP Quarter 1; Euro zone trade balance February; Japan industrial production February; US CPI March, trade balance February and Federal Reserve Beige book.

Here are the overnight market highlights:

SPI futures down 18 points to 6251 at 5.50am AEDT
AUD -0.04% to 71.70 US cents
On Wall St at 1.43pm: Dow +0.2% S&P 500 -0.1% Nasdaq +0.2%
In New York, BHP -0.5% Rio -3.2% Atlassian +0.3%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.4% FTSE +0.4% CAC +0.4% DAX +0.7%
Spot gold -1% to $US1274.79 an ounce
Brent crude -0.3% to $US70.96 a barrel
US oil -0.1% to $US63.34 a barrel
Iron ore -0.7% to $US94.78 a tonne
Dalian iron ore -1.8% to 634 yuan
LME aluminium -0.5% to $US1856 a tonne
LME copper +0.2% to $US6495 a tonne
2-year yield: US 2.40% Australia 1.49%
5-year yield: US 2.39% Australia 1.53%
10-year yield: US 2.58% Australia 1.93% Germany 0.06%
US-Australia 10-year yield gap: 65 basis points

The futures market has elevated the chance of an October interest rate cut to a done deal, and bumped up the probability of an August cut to 76 per cent, after the Reserve Bank revealed worsening unemployment and below-target inflation would trigger policy easing.

In outlining its thinking in the minutes of the April 2 meeting, released on Wednesday, financial markets concluded that the Reserve Bank had set a more dovish tone. But in moving so forcefully earlier this year, rate cuts were already the base-case expectation of the market.

The release of the minutes wound back some of the optimism that had crept in following a streak of better-than-expected economic data, beginning with March's 0.8 per cent seasonally adjusted retail sales growth released the day after the RBA meeting.

The text of the minutes also acknowledged the shift in market pricing month-to-month since the shock December-quarter GDP result of 0.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth.

Vesna Poljak has the full story here.

The DuluxGroup board has unanimously recommended a proposal from Japanese-based Nippon Paint to acquire the company, saying going forward as a standalone company was not in the best interest of shareholders.

Nippon's offer values the company at $9.80 per share, at a 28 per cent premium to its close price on Tuesday.

"The Board has carefully considered the strategic options available to DuluxGroup to maximise value, including continuing to pursue domestic and global growth as a standalone company, and we have unanimously concluded that the transaction with Nippon is in the best interests of our shareholders," said DuluxGroup chairman Graeme Liebelt.

"It provides an opportunity for shareholders to realise a significant premium to market value for their shares and is on terms that reflect the strategic value of DuluxGroup to Nippon. Nippon has been extremely complimentary of DuluxGroup's team, capability, high quality businesses and track record of performance, all of which they want to maintain. I have confidence that this new partnership will provide strong benefits for both companies."

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live for Thursday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

We have a big day ahead with some quarterly results and Chinese data set to be the centre of attention for investors.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.