- Asia's equities were mixed following heavy selling on Wall Street late last week as investors raised their forecasts for US interest rates in response to hot inflation data.
- Shares fell in Australia and South Korea, while they rose in China and Japan. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index appeared to be on track to reverse its 2023 advance before swinging marginally higher.
- US futures rose slightly, easing the sting of Friday's more-than-1% drop in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, which both had their worst week since December.
- Investor concern about riskier assets stems from an unexpected acceleration in the personal consumption expenditures price index, the federal reserve's preferred inflation gauge, in January. The release of the PCE data on Friday prompted a swift repricing of interest rate forecasts, with traders now pricing us rates to peak at 5.4% this year, compared to a month ago's expectations of rates peaking at less than 5%.
