It’s important to keep stocks’ performance this year in mind even as investors wonder what it’ll take to get inflation numbers lower.

U.S. stocks finished lower on Monday, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended last week at records and as investors await consumer-price index data to be released on Wednesday — which may be the last wild card that could upset expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in December.

Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after U.S. indexes drifted lower on Tuesday ahead of an update on U.S. consumer inflation due later in the day. U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices rose.

European markets open lower while Asian stocks are mixed after U.S. indexes declined ahead of an update on consumer inflation due later Wednesday.

They’re the first back-to-back losses for the index in nearly a month, as momentum slows following a big rally that has it on track for one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points,

Wall Street searched for footing early Tuesday as the last earnings reports of 2024 trickled in ahead of new data on U.S. inflation. Futures for the S&P 500 rose less than 0.1% before the opening bell and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.