Australia

Australian shares are set to edge higher even as Wall Street falls. Major US stock indexes were trading mostly lower in the final hour of trading, pulled lower by concerns about slowing global growth as COVID cases rose in China, where lockdowns returned.

ASX futures were up 33 points or 0.46% at 7181 as of 7:00am on Tuesday, pointing to a gain at the open.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% in midday trading. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed.

Investors had hoped that signs of easing Covid-19 containment measures in China would allow for economic growth to pick up, also benefiting the global economy. Several Chinese cities had said they would no longer carry out mandatory mass testing and lifted the requirement for residents to show proof of a recent negative test to enter public places.

"All eyes are on China," said Hani Redha, a portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments. "Any attempt to reopen is going to be tricky because we know the pattern with these things: you get a spike in cases. We haven't even really got going and there are already a lot of cases."

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil slipped 0.4% to $US87.27 a barrel, gold edged down 0.7% to US$1,737.95.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds dropped to 3.09% while the 10 Year fell to 3.58%. Overseas, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes jumped to 4.55% and the yield on the 10 Year US Treasury notes was down at 3.83%.

The Australian dollar hit 66.01 US cents down from the previous close of 66.69. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies edged up to 100.49.

Asia

China stocks finished lower, as the country's Covid outbreaks continued to deteriorate and several cities further tightened movement controls over the weekend. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4% to settle at 3085.04, while the Shenzhen Composite Index edged down by 0.81 point to 2028.51. The tech-heavy ChiNext Price Index fell 0.1% to 2387.30. The top losers included consumer-services providers, including restaurant operators and cinema companies, as well as tourism names such as travel agencies and tourist-attraction sites operators. Caissa Tosun fell 5.0%, China Film dived 5.8% and Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotels lost 4.0%.

Hong Kong stocks ended the session lower, tracking losses in the mainland China market as investor sentiment soured over the country's continuing Covid outbreaks and tightened movement restrictions. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.9% to settle at 17655.91. Macau casino operators led losses, as Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment fell 7.7% and 5.8%, respectively. Other tourism and consumption stocks further weighed on the market. Restaurant operator Haidilao was down by 7.1% and beer producer Budweiser Brewing shed 6.3%.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average edged 0.2% higher to close at 27944.79 amid cautious sentiment. Investors seem to be caught between the "crosshairs" on easing US CPI and PPI data, while Fed policy makers continue to make hawkish comments, said Priyanka Sachdeva, an analyst at Phillip Nova, in a research report. Gains were led by a mixed bag of companies, such as Resona Holdings, which rose 2.3%; Tokio Marine Holdings, which added 2.3%; and Sumitomo Metal Mining, up 2.0%. USD/JPY was at 140.55, compared with 139.82 as of Friday's Tokyo stock-market close. The 10-year JGB yield was down half a basis point at 0.240%.

Europe

European stocks fell amid concerns about fresh Chinese coronavirus restrictions and interest-rate rises, as well as speculation that OPEC could boost oil supplies.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 and English FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower, the French CAC 40 dropped 0.2% and the German DAX retreated about 0.4%.

Global equities are weak again as rising Covid cases in China and further hawkish comments by the US Federal Reserve spook investors, IG said. "Sharp daily falls in oil are becoming a regular occurrence and news that OPEC is now considering production increases has prompted oil to lurch down once more," IG analyst Chris Beauchamp wrote.

North America

US stocks were mostly lower Monday as investors worried about a rise in Covid-19 infections overseas and the state of the economy at home heading into the key holiday season. The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% in midday trading. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed.

Investors had hoped that signs of easing Covid-19 containment measures in China would allow for economic growth to pick up, also benefiting the global economy. Several Chinese cities had said they would no longer carry out mandatory mass testing and lifted the requirement for residents to show proof of a recent negative test to enter public places.

A rise in Covid-19 infections and the reporting of virus-related deaths for the first time in almost six months have caused investors to worry that China's normalization could instead be further delayed.

"All eyes are on China," said Hani Redha, a portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments. "Any attempt to reopen is going to be tricky because we know the pattern with these things: you get a spike in cases. We haven't even really got going and there are already a lot of cases."

On top of the China news, investors are looking at an assortment of concerning developments in the US ahead of the holiday season. A looming railroad-worker strike could disrupt some supply chains as soon as early December, hampering commerce. Investors will also be watching the holiday shopping season to see the degree to which inflation is biting into consumers' purchasing power.

On the data front, investors were anticipating a quiet week with the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The biggest event on the economic calendar is Wednesday's release of the minutes of last Federal Reserve meeting.

Investors will be looking for clues to Fed officials' opinion on the pace of inflation, and whether it will prompt the central bank to ratchet down the pace of interest-rate increases.

In corporate news, shares of Walt Disney's jumped 5.7% after the entertainment giant replaced Chief Executive Bob Chapek with Robert Iger, the company's former chairman and CEO.

Shares of Imago BioSciences more than doubled after Merck agreed to acquire the developer of bone-marrow disease drugs for $1.35 billion.

Carvana stock fell 14%. The used-car dealer was a pandemic winner but is now rushing to conserve cash as once-plentiful financing options dry up and its business deteriorates

Coinbase Global dropped 8.8% as the crypto market continues to struggle in the wake of the collapse of exchange FTX while bitcoin's dollar value fell 2.8% to $15,794. Pessimism on the outlook for digital assets has worsened following the swift collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Investors are worried that failures among other companies could be on the horizon.