sydney dec 9 reuters  asian shares tracked wall street higher amid hopes that chinas economy would pick up pace as covid19 curbs ease although caution ahead of a week full of risk events including the federal reserves policy meeting could cap sentiment mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan miapj0000pus rose 09 in early trade edging closer to a threemonth high hit earlier in the week for the week it was also set to rise 09 hong kongs hang seng index hsi advanced 12 with mainland developers hsmpi up a whopping 4 chinese blue chips csi300 however saw more subdued gains chinas premier li keqiang in comments carried by state media said on thursday chinas shift in covid policy would allow the countrys economy to pick up pace a day after a toplevel party meeting pledged to focus on stabilising growth while optimising the pandemic measures apart from china optimism investors are focused on us producer price inflation figures later in the day for more signs about the health of the us economy after data overnight showed some loosening in the labour market with weekly jobless claims rising moderately us stocks snapped their recent losing streak to rebound the dow jones industrial average added 113 us monthly consumer inflation data is also due next week with economists forecasting inflation likely slowed slightly to 80 in november from a year earlier compared with 82 in october futures have priced in a nearcertain possibility that the fed will slow down its rate hike to 50 basis points next week but the target us federal funds rate would have to peak around 49 by next may this slowing is not a signal that the central banks job is nearly donethe slower pace of hikes starts a new phase of the feds tightening cycle said brian martin head of g3 economics at anz with inflation proving sticky and the labour market still buoyant the risks to our 500 terminal view are to the topside analysts at barclays expect the key objective for the fed at this meeting would be to execute a transition to slower hikes without easing broader financial conditions with data on activity suggesting that the feds hikes to date have had limited traction on activity we think the fomc will accompany the move with hawkish dots to reiterate that the hiking cycle has a ways to go the fed the european central bank and the bank of england are all set to announce interest rate decisions next week as policymakers continue to tap the brakes on economic growth through firmer rates to thwart stubbornly high inflation the us dollar slid 02 against a basket of major currencies on friday on top of a drop of 04 overnight the safehaven greenback was set to finish the week flat treasury yields rose overnight and remained largely steady after falling to the lowest in three years earlier in the week on expectations of slower growth or that a recession will curb the rise in rates the yield on benchmark 10year treasury notes held at 34819 compared with its us close of 3493 the twoyear yield touched 43139 up slightly from its us close of 4312 the yield curve remains the most inverted since the early 1980s at around 83bps pointing towards a us recession in the near future in the oil market prices rose after tumbling the day before amid fears a slowdown in the global economy would lead to reduced demand us west texas intermediate wti crude futures surged 09 to 7211 per barrel while brent crude settled at 7615 a barrel 1 higher gold was slightly lower spot gold traded at 178899 per ounce