Investor anxiety rises ahead of US inflation report, global markets stumble.

Stocks in Asia struggled to advance and the dollar remained firm ahead of the release of US consumer price data, which could impact hopes for interest rate cuts later this year if inflation fails to show much of a decline. Economists expect the headline CPI to hold steady at an annual 5% and core CPI to moderate very slightly to 5.5%, though anything stickier could confound bets interest rates will fall. The uncertainty over the US debt limit is driving demand for bonds, however T-Bills maturing early in June are out of favour and yielding 5.6% - the highest in decades and above the Fed funds rate.