At 10:00 a.m., the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo (Japan) increased by 62.13 points, or 0.16%, to 38,709.88 points, after increasing by 8.7% last week.

Meanwhile, in China, the Shanghai Composite Index in Shanghai fell 15.58 points, or 0.55%, to 2,826.64 points. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 294.31 points, or 1.64%, to 17,694.76 points. Leading the decline in China was the real estate sector, after a survey showed that home price growth had slowed.

The US dollar is holding on to gains after upbeat US spending data prompted markets to lower expectations of a 0.5 percentage point rate cut by the Federal Reserve at its meeting this month.

The market is pricing in a 100% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut on September 18, while the probability of a 50 basis point cut is just 33%. The Fed is also expected to cut rates by 1 basis point this year.

A key metric for the Fed is the jobs report due out on September 6. Analysts expect payrolls to increase by 165,000 and the unemployment rate to fall to 4.2%.

Also important this week are the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reports on the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the JOLTS and hiring activity reports, trade figures and the Fed’s Be Book report.