SHANGHAI - Asian shares inched up on Tuesday as traders awaited U.S. retail sales data and more corporate earnings to gauge the health of the world’s biggest economy, with markets remaining focused on a likely U.S. rate cut by the end of the month.
U.S. data on Tuesday is expected to show that retail sales gained 0.1% in June, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Reuters. But a decline in net interest margin reported by Citigroup in its mixed quarterly report underlined risks for financial firms in a lower interest rate environment.
Signs of trade tensions weighing on corporate profits and the fading impact of tax cuts would underscore the U.S. Federal Reserve’s concerns over slowing business investment, he said. Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.04%. On Tuesday, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes turned down slightly to 2.087% compared with its U.S. close of 2.092% on Monday.