Live updates: ASX opens flat as US jobs data dampens hopes of ...

• ASX 200: -0.02% to 7,716 points (live figures below)

• Australian dollar: -0.03% at 67.10 US cents

• Dow Jones: +0.07% to 37,466 points

• S&P 500: +0.18% to 4697 points

• Spot gold: -0.06% at $US2,044.27/ounce

• Brent crude: $US78.72/barrel

• Bitcoin: -0.03% at $US43,945

(Prices current at approximately 10:20am AEDT)

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Plane maker Boeing has hit some turbulence again with its 737 MAX planes - this time the MAX 9 (which has only been in service for 8 weeks) is causing trouble for the aircraft manufacturer (and the terrified passengers on board) after a piece of the plane - a cabin panel - blew out (i.e. fell off) mid flight, forcing an emergency landing of an Alaska Airlines flight.

Take a look at this video taken on board showing a huge hole in the side of the aircraft:

Thankfully, the two seats next to the chunk of missing plane were unoccupied and no one was seriously injured. But it's certainly causing more headaches for the company who has already had serious problems with other planes in its 737 MAX fleet - including the MAX 8 involved in two fatal crashes.

As a result of this recent incident, the US aviation regulator has temporarily grounded 171 of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 planes for safety checks. Other countries have followed suit.

No Australian airlines have the new MAX 9 planes involved in this incident.

You can read more here:

The big economic data out this week that might move financial markets is the monthly inflation indicator for November from the ABS out on Wednesday.

The typical economist forecast via Bloomberg is for annual price increases to subside from 4.9% over the year to October down to 4.5% for the year to November.

However, CBA's Stephen Wu says he expects a slightly weaker reading, in large part due to heavy discounting during a now key November sales period for retailers.

"We expect to see the impact of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events in the November CPI indicator," he noted.

"Prices for goods, such as garments, household products, and audio, visual & computing equipment should see outright price declines owing to discounting activity.

"Offsetting this is the expected resumption of strong rents inflation.

"And we expect continued elevated market services inflation. However, this is not expected to be as strong as the Q3 23 Fair Work Commission award wage decision impacted figures.

"The ever volatile holiday travel component should see prices bounce, but the extent of this is a key uncertainty for our forecast. Meanwhile fuel prices eased in November, with further declines occurring in December."

Mr Wu says CBA is expecting the monthly inflation gauge to fall even further last month, with annual price increases below 4% over the year to December.

The Australian share market has opened slightly lower to begin the week,  down 0.01% today to 7,488 at 10:43am AEDT.

(For live figures at any time, head to the post at the very top of the blog.)

The top performers are Boss Energy (up 6.1%) and Arcadium Lithium (+ 2.59%). The worst performers are Core Lithium (-6.52%) and Magellan Financial Group (-3.21%).

Good morning and welcome to the ABC's business and markets blog. It's been a quiet morning so far, with investors watching closely this week for signs of interest rate cuts in the months to come.

Hopes of early cuts from the RBA have been tempered by US jobs data which was stronger than expected — they rose by 216,000 in December.

Some Australian data on monthly inflation due out this week should shed some more light. Keep your eyes out for that on Wednesday.

As for today, the local share market is expected to open flat based on the ASX SPI 200 futures.

That's despite a positive end to last week on Wall Street, with the S&P500 finishing slightly higher

The Dow Jones and Nasdaq were both up 0.1%.

Oil is up, with Brent Crude trading at 78.7 US dollars a barrel.

Gold is up too at $2,052 US dollars an ounce.

And the Australian Dollar is higher, trading at 67.1 US cents.