Futures are pointing to a cautious start for the ASX this morning. Three of the Big Four banks report this week, while PayPal, Meta and Amazon are in focus after huge moves last week. Meanwhile, energy prices keep rallying, and there could be light at the end of the tunnel for travel names eying open borders.

Economic calendar and news

With almost 500,000 jobs added to the US economy in January, employment data in the US last week has strengthened the case for the beginning of a rate hike cycle, meaning attention this week will turn to the latest inflation data.

Thursday US-time will see the latest consumer price index report, with headline inflation tipped to rise about 0.4% month-on-month, and 7.2% year-on-year. A hot' reading could set the scene for the Federal Reserve to increase rates multiple times this year, with a growing number of analysts now predicting four or five rate hikes could be just the baseline versus expectations of three rate hikes a short time ago.

Treasury 10-year yields have continued to rally higher, leaping to as high as 1.93% on Friday, although growth stocks were largely unflustered by the move.In Australia, business and consumer confidence readings may give a better picture on how companies and shoppers are responding in light of easing COVID cases and what appears to be a peak in hospitalisation numbers across the east coast.

Stocks on watch

After last week volatile end to the week in the US, three tech giants are likely to remain on investors radars after diverging fortunes. 

Meta (NASDAQ: FB) suffered its worst one-day plunge ever when it fell more than 26%, and also set a record for the single-largest decline in market cap of any stock during one trading session. That followed its quarterly results, which pointed to slowing user growth across Facebook. It was a similar story for PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), which recorded its worst-ever trading session last week when it plummeted 24% and shed around US$50 billion in value. That came as the payment giant outlook left investors feeling sick, slashing its earnings guidance and citing competition as well as inflation as a headwind dampening consumer spending.Suffering no such setback, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares gained around 14% on Friday after the ecommerce behemoth beat all expectations when it handed down earnings. The company cloud division is driving strong growth for the business, while plans to raise the price of its Prime subscription were met with a positive reaction. Earnings season in the US isn't done yet, with a host of large-cap names still set to deliver quarterly updates. The biggest of these is pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), which has been at the centre of the worldwide vaccination drive. It is also currently working on an Omicron-specific COVID vaccine, so investors may be looking out for any updates on how progress is faring.Oil major BP (NYSE: BP) will also be in the spotlight, circling a 52-week high as it reaps the dividends of an oil price that has pushed past US$90 per barrel to hit a seven-year high.And there is Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), which will be hoping to avoid the fallout that its social media peer encountered last week when it shocked investors with lacklustre figures.

It is also a big week for ASX reporting season, with things just starting to ramp up after a handful of high-profile companies kicked things off last week. 

Undoubtedly the biggest name on the radar this week is Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA), with the nation largest bank a bellwether stock for the performance of the financial sector, the housing market, and the economy at large. Key to the company results will be commentary on its margins, with Westpac (ASX: WBC) last week noting that it had seen further pressure in this area over the last quarter, expecting that to continue in the near-term. ANZ (ASX: ANZ) and NAB (ASX: NAB) publish first-quarter trading updates this week.The week ahead could see higher volumes in travel stocks, which would follow on last week outperformance by the sector. Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged that discussions to open international borders will be one of the key matters on the policy agenda this week at the national security committee, paving the way for a potential line of sight around the return of international tourism to Australia. A number of stocks caught a bid on speculation about the move last week, including Qantas (ASX: QAN), Webjet (ASX: WEB) and Flight Centre (ASX: FLT).