By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up on Wednesday morning, and U.S. equity futures were also on an upward trend. While investors digested recent inflation data from China, they also anticipated U.S. data which could give clues about whether or not price pressures have been peaking.

China’s rose 1.43% by 10:27 PM ET (2:27 AM GMT) and the jumped 1.57%. The consumer price index (CPI), for April 2022, grew 0.4% to 2.1% according to data released earlier today. Also, it rose by 8.8% year-on–year.

Hong Kong’s rose 1%.

Japan’s was up 0.37% while South Korea’s inched down 0.06%.

In Australia, the edged down 0.14%, with the for May 2022 , a much bigger drop that the previous month’s 0.9% contraction.

The U.S. stock market rose on Tuesday, providing a slight respite from its equity slump of 2022. This was fueled by concerns about an economic recession and high inflation. As investors digested the Federal Reserve’s latest comments, U.S. Treasury yields remained unchanged while the dollar held steady at its highest levels since 2020.

Fed officials were mostly in line with Chairman Jerome Powell’s view that half-point hikes are possible in June and July 2022. However, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester told Bloomberg that “we don’t rule out 75 forever,” in reference to a more aggressive, three-quarter-point hike. Powell and Mester’s colleague, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, will speak on Thursday.

Investors are now awaiting the U.S., which is due late in the afternoon. According to Investing.com forecasts, the figure will moderate but remain above 8%. Disruptions linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and China’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreak are also contributing to increased living costs.

A high US print “will give the Fed license to raise rates even faster” and would be very bad for technology stocks, F.L. Putnam Investment Management Co. chief market strategist Ellen Hazen told Bloomberg.

On Thursday, the U.S. will release its PPI. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report is due one day later.

The “bar is low” for a surprise from the US inflation data amid ebbing consumer sentiment, Northwestern (NASDAQ:) Mutual Life Insurance Co. chief investment strategist Schutte told Bloomberg.

“Things are going to be just a bit better at the margin… the Fed overall is going to tighten less. That will lead to a market that begins to find its feet and move higher in coming quarters as inflation does come off the boil,” he added.

Meanwhile, oil was below the $100 mark after dropping around 10% this week as growth concerns over China’s COVID-19 lockdowns sap crude and metals. Russia and Ukraine clashed also over the shipment of crude oil via pipelines to Europe. These could lead to disruptions on Europe’s supply chain, leading to higher prices.