Stock Market Today: Dow Wavers as Alibaba Comes Under Pressure and

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Wall Street was treading water Tuesday while global stocks were largely lower, as investors look ahead to key U.S. inflation data.

U.S. stock market futures were wavering, moving above and below flat in the hours before New York trading begins, set for a soft open after stocks rose Monday. Futures for the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

pointed up around 50 points, with futures for the

S&P 500

and

Nasdaq

indicating a similarly higher open.

Overseas, the Chinese technology sector remained under pressure from the planned breakup of major payments app Alipay by regulators, with the

Shanghai Composite

down 1.4% and Hong Kong’s

Hang Seng Index

falling 1.2%. The pan-European

Stoxx 600

was 0.1% lower, in line with most of the region’s major indexes.

Investor attention is squarely focused on inflation data coming later in the day, when markets will react to the U.S. consumer-price index for August, and core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices. Expectations are for CPI to rise 0.4% in August, down from 0.5% in July, with core CPI holding steady at 0.3%.

Inflation has been central to the narrative of markets in recent months—especially the debate over whether high year-over-year readings are permanent or transitory. Concerns over inflation come as central banks like the Federal Reserve consider slowing, or tapering, their Covid-19 pandemic-era program of monthly asset purchases, which add liquidity to markets.

“With markets back on inflation and tapering watch, the path of least resistance is higher prints from the data,” said Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at broker Oanda. A higher print would mean more-than-expected inflation.

“In that circumstance, I expect the U.S. Dollar to spike, U.S. yields to rise, and equities to probably have a bad day at the office,” Halley added. “But given the lack of momentum anywhere at the moment, I’m not sure it will last.”

Here are the stocks on the move Tuesday:

Evergrande

shares plunged nearly 12% in Hong Kong, as the embattled, highly indebted Chinese property giant warned over property sales and detailed the extent of its financial problems.

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