Inflation, Once a Stock-Market Curse, Is Now the Rally’s Friend
- A year after CPI peaked, hopes that Fed is nearing a victory
- Data is key to traders gauging the central bank’s path
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A year after inflation galvanized bets against the US stock market, it’s becoming Exhibit A for those wagering that this year’s rally will continue.
Since the consumer price index surged by a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, it has pulled back steadily in the face of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy onslaught. That’s expected to continue on Wednesday, when economists forecast that the Labor Department will report the index rose just 3.1% last month — the smallest annual increase since March 2021.