ASX set to edge higher; Wall Street braces for more earnings

Wall Street closed out a choppy week of trading with a broad rally, though the gains were not enough to keep the S&P 500 from its first weekly loss in the last five.

The benchmark index rose 1.1 per cent on Friday (US time), clawing back all of its losses from a day earlier. It posted a 0.1 per cent loss for the week. The gains were shared broadly by nearly every sector in the index. Technology companies accounted for a big slice of the rally, along with banks, communication stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.4 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket is set to inch…