Wall Street coasted to the finish of its best week in the last five on Friday as US stocks hung near their record levels.

The S&P 500 barely budged and edged down by less than 0.1 per cent from the all-time high it set the day before. The Dow Jones fell 273 points, or 0.6 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4 per cent to its own record set on Thursday.

The Australian sharemarket is set to retreat, with futures on Saturday pointing to a fall of 59 points, or 0.7 per cent, at the open. The Australian dollar was fetching US66.44¢ at 5.16am AEST.

Wall Street stocks have rallied with expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its meeting this week. Such a move would give the economy a kickstart, and mortgage rates have alrea

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