Australian shares are off to a cautious start as investors weigh up the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases while awaiting key economic updates this week.Most sectors are in the red, with energy, financials and consumer discretionary suffering the steepest losses.
Gold miners are today's best performers, including Resolute Mining , Northern Star Resources and St Barbara .However, the major banks were the biggest drags on the market, with Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ down at least 1 per cent each.On Friday, the Dow Jones index fell 62 points to 26,672 points, the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent to 3,225, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3 per cent, to 10,503.
Investors will be paying close attention to Thursday's economic and fiscal update. The Morrison Government is set to reveal its plans for the JobKeeper wage subsidy, which is scheduled to end in September. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe is due to speak on Tuesday on "COVID-19, the Labour Market and Public Sector Balance Sheets".
Also, preliminary retail sales data for June will be released by the Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
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