passersby wearing protective face masks are reflected on a stock quotation board amid the coronavirus disease covid19 pandemic in tokyo japan january 25 2022 reutersissei kato singapore feb 8 reuters  asian equities consolidated recent gains as investors sentiment improved amid strong results by us companies helping stocks recover from the worst start to the year since 2016 while a resurgent euro paused ahead of us inflation data markets are still alert for rate increases in both the euro zone and the united states after the european central bank last week was considered to have adopted a more hawkish tone euro zone yields rose sharply on monday with italian bond prices underperforming their peers the united states has reported strongerthanexpected jobs and earnings data read more mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan miapj0000pus edged up 005 to 6146 after rising to 6177 the highest since january 25 the benchmark is now up about 3 from a more than oneyear low of 59599 struck on jan 27 much of investors concern is focused on the five fed increases that markets are pricing in for 2022 and if they wont be sufficient to contain inflation seema shah chief strategist at principal global investors said in a note yet the feds urgency to tighten should soon ease as the most acute economic price pressures start fading furthermore while us growth has likely peaked a recession isnt in the cards she said japans nikkei n225 rose 04 korean stocks ksii went up 07 and taiwan twii gained 06 hong kong stocks figured among the losers with the hang seng index hsi falling 07 sp 500 futures were steady and nasdaq futures edged up 006 the msci world index miwd00000pus fell 62 in january  the worst start to the year since 2016 us consumer price figures for january are due on thursday and could show core inflation accelerating to the fastest pace since 1982 at 59 major wall street stock indexes were mixed throughout the session on monday before ending down as markets digested mixed quarterly results from megacaps amazoncom inc and facebook owner meta platforms fbo read more the dow jones industrial average dji ended flat while the sp 500 spx lost 037 and the nasdaq composite ixic dropped 06 of the 278 companies in the sp 500 that have posted earnings as of friday 784 reported above analysts expectations according to refinitiv data corporate profits are the strongest in decades consumers are backed by excess savings and gradual supply chain normalization should provide a boost to inventories and production shah of principal global investors said the us january payrolls report on friday showed annual growth in average hourly earnings climbed to 57 from 49 while payrolls for prior months were revised up by 709000 to radically change the trend in hiring in foreign exchange markets the euro inched down 01  having shot up 27 last week in its best performance since early 2020 on the tightening expectations read more the euro has held gains but has been unable to beat resistance around 11483 even as european bond yields have leapt and last bought 11441 the dollar crept 01 higher on the yen to 11527 and the us dollar index stayed at 95457 treasury yields hovered close to pandemic highs with the benchmark 10year yield up 16 basis points to 19358 oil prices eased on tuesday ahead of talks between the united states and iran officials which could lead to the removal of us sanctions on iranian oil sales brent crude was last down 04 to 9229 a barrel after hitting a sevenyear high of 94 on monday spot gold prices were steady at a 1week high at 1822 per ounce reporting by anshuman daga additional reporting by tom westbrook editing by gerry doyle