LONDON - Stock markets mostly climbed on Tuesday before the release of key US inflation data later in the session.
The November consumer price index (CPI) figures follow Friday's forecast-beating print on US wholesale inflation, which dented hopes the Federal Reserve would scale back the size of its next interest rate hikes.
The central bank is widely expected to lift interest rates 50 basis points Wednesday -- a slowdown from the previous four 75-point hikes -- but its post-meeting statement and comments from boss Jerome Powell will be closely followed.
While the general view is that policymakers will stop increasing borrowing costs next year, there is debate about how high they will peak and when they will start to come down.
"I think CPI will be important but not necessarily for this meeting, for which a 50 basis-point hike is well flagged, but rather it will help determine the extent of further tightening," said Mitul Kotecha, of TD Securities.
"Don't expect clearcut signals from the Fed... on what they expect to be doing at early 2023 meetings," said National Australia Bank's Ray Attrill.