Resilience in core U.S. retail sales and a jump in inflation expectations reported on Friday led investors to trim the amount of easing expected later this year to around 60 basis points .
This combination of factors made for a slow start on Monday and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei inched up 0.3 percent.Chinese data on retail sales, industrial output and gross domestic product are due on Tuesday, and analysts suspect the risks are for an upside surprise given recent strength in trade.
In bond markets, the shift in Fed expectations pushed U.S. two-year yields up to 4.12 percent, having risen 12 basis points last week. That sea change saw the euro gain 0.8 percent last week, even after a dip on Friday. Early Monday, the single currency was holding at $1.0983 having hit a one-year high of $1.1075 last week.