U.S. equities ended marginally higher on Monday as investor concerns about the progress in U.S. tax reform weighed on sentiment. In Asia, markets awaited the release of a slew of Chinese economic data points due later in the day.

Proposed tax cuts were in focus stateside, with President Donald Trump joining the fray and calling for additional amendments in the Republican plan. In a tweet, Trump suggested repealing an Affordable Care Act provision that requires most Americans to purchase insurance. Doing so would allow the top individual income tax rate to be cut to 35 percent with “all the rest going to middle income cuts,” Trump added.

Trump’s tweet added more complexity to plans to reform the U.S. tax system. There are currently two tax plans drawn up by House and Senate Republicans which have to be passed by the respective chambers before eventually being reconciled.

Ahead, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are among those scheduled to attend a central banking conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Investors are likely to take note of the messaging coming out of that conference.

U.S. stocks finished their Monday session a touch higher as investors digested dealmaking headlines but worried about the progress on tax reforms. Shares of General Electric tumbled 7.17 percent after the company said it would cut its dividend in half as it attempts to turnaround its business.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.07 percent, or 17.49 points, to close at 23,439.70, the S&P 500 inched higher by 0.1 percent to end at 2,584.84 and the Nasdaq composite closed up 0.1 percent at 6,757.60.

In Asia, futures suggested Japanese equities would be little changed at the open. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were up 0.02 percent at 22,385 and Osaka futures were higher by 0.08 percent at 22,400. The benchmark index closed at 22,380.99 on Monday.

Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.68 percent in early trade.

Several notable Japanese corporates are due to report earnings on Tuesday, including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Idemitsu Kosan.

Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group on Monday said net profit for the quarter ending in September fell 12 percent to come in at 198.4 billion yen ($1.75 billion), Reuters reported. Ultra-low interest rates have hurt returns for Japan’s banks.

Elsewhere, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said the bank would be looking to expanding its stake in its investment bank joint venture on the Chinese mainland to a controlling 51 percent, the South China Morning Post reported. The move came after China announced last week it would be easing foreign ownership rules on financial sector joint ventures.

Sterling continued to struggle on the back of negative weekend headlines about U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership and as Brexit negotiations only inched forward. The pound traded at $1.3114 at 6:54 a.m. HK/SIN after touching as low as $1.3060 on Monday.

The greenback, meanwhile, was broadly firmer. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of six currencies, edged up to 94.518 at 6:55 a.m. HK/SIN. The U.S. currency also strengthened against the yen to trade at 113.62, compared to levels around the 113.5 handle seen at the end of last week.

Oil prices were range-bound on Monday as markets weighed increasing U.S. production and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude slid 36 cents to settle at $63.16 a barrel and U.S. crude futures settled 2 cents higher at $56.76.

Here’s the economic calendar for Tuesday (all times in HK/SIN):

• 8:30 a.m.: Australia NAB business confidence survey
• 10:00 a.m.: China October fixed asset investment, industrial production and retail sales
• 2:30 p.m.: India October wholesale price index

— CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.