Asian stocks rise ahead of inflation tests, oil price rises after rocket fire from Israel and Hezbollah

“Nvidia will beat consensus expectations, they always do, but investors are so fixated on revenue being $2 billion (NZ$3.21 billion) or more than analysts are estimating, otherwise it could easily become a sell-the-news event,” said Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone.

That means Nvidia would have to report revenue of $30 billion or more and third-quarter guidance of $33 billion or more, he added.

Early Monday, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures lost 0.1 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, after rising 1.1 percent last week, while South Korea rose 0.3 percent.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7 percent as a stronger yen put pressure on exporters' shares.

The yen rose on Friday on the back of a generally weaker dollar after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it was time to start easing monetary policy and stressed that the central bank did not want a further weakening of the labor market.

“Importantly, there were strikingly no caveats such as 'gradualism' as used by other Fed officials,” noted Tapas Strickland, head of market economics at NAB.

“The September 6 jobs report is clearly important as Powell stands ready to cut interest rates to ward off downside risks to employment and maintain a strong labor market,” he added.

“In summary, Powell has increased the chances of a soft landing.”

Figures on private consumption and core inflation in the US are expected on Friday, along with a summary of inflation figures in the European Union.

Analysts generally assume that the data will be favorable enough to allow interest rate cuts in September.

Fed fund futures are fully priced for a quarter-point cut at the Sept. 18 meeting, implying a 36 percent chance of an outsized move of 50 basis points.

The market has also priced in an easing of 103 basis points this year and a further 122 basis points for 2025.

“We continue to expect the FOMC to initially make three consecutive cuts of 25 basis points each at the September, November and December meetings,” said Goldman Sachs analysts.

“Our forecast is based on our assumption that the August employment report will be better than the July one. However, we continue to believe that a 50 basis point cut would be likely if the August report were weaker than expected.”

Markets have also priced in a quarter of a percentage point interest rate cut by the European Central Bank next month and a total easing of 163 basis points by the end of 2025.

The two-year Treasury yield was at 3.91%, after falling nearly 10 basis points on Friday, while the 10-year yield remained at 3.79%.

The dollar slipped another 0.3 percent to 143.97 yen, after falling 1.3 percent on Friday. The euro rose to 1.1190 US dollars, just below its 13-month high, while the Swiss franc remained stable at 0.8472 against the dollar.

A weaker dollar and lower bond yields are supporting gold prices at $2,516 an ounce and close to an all-time high of $2,531.60 (A$3,724.58).

-By Wayne Cole of Reuters