Financial markets were concerned about ongoing global cost pressures on Tuesday, which led to a decline in Asian shares. This week, investors will be paying attention to U.S. inflation data and the possibility of further aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.

The July U.S. consumer price report is coming on Wednesday, and the surprisingly positive U.S. jobs figures on Friday have increased the stakes, particularly for the Fed’s policy stance.

As attention shifts away from the strong U.S. labor market and toward the U.S. CPI data due out later this week, ANZ analysts noted in a note that “U.S. markets were struggling to hold on to gains.”

From the 25–27 August Jackson Hole symposium, “the priority of controlling inflation to underpin the expansion in domestic demand and sustainable jobs growth will ring loud and clear.”

MSCI’s largest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan was down 0.2% at the start of the Asian trading session. This month, the index has gained 0.5 percent so far. Futures for US stocks increased by 0.07 percent.

Australia’s equities remained unchanged, while the Nikkei in Japan fell 0.81 percent.

The CSI300 index of Chinese blue-chip companies opened the day down 0.31 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong started the day 0.12% down.

Wall Street ended the trading day on Monday with a somewhat flat close as the Federal Reserve was expected to tighten monetary policy as a result of last week’s massive employment report, which also reinforced investor fears that the U.S. economy was weakening.

Investors are now waiting for consumer price data on Wednesday to determine whether the Fed will ease up a little on its fight against inflation and give the economy a better foundation for expansion.

On the price front, there were some encouraging signs for the Fed, as a New York Fed survey released on Monday revealed that consumers’ inflation expectations dropped significantly in July.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 lost 0.12 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.09 percent.

Due to unease over Beijing’s saber-rattling over Taiwan and days of Chinese military drills near the island, bonds also received a safe-haven bid.

In comparison to Monday’s U.S. close of 2.763 percent, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes increased to 2.7517 percent. The two-year yield, which rises as traders anticipate higher Fed fund rates, hit 3.2115 percent compared to a 3.216 percent close in the United States.

The dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of other significant trading partners’ currencies, was up at 106.37.

Worries over stalled global demand as central banks continue to tighten the financial system caused oil prices to continue their ongoing decline after suffering their lowest week since April.

A barrel of American crude fell by 0.19 percent to $90.59. A barrel of Brent crude dropped to $96.48.

Gold suffered from the increase in the dollar, despite having recovered from its Friday lows and trading at $1788.7731 an ounce.