A shopper browses meat at a grocery store in New York, US, on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. <\/p>\n
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
It was a stellar day for markets as all three major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
That’s despite a sharper-than-expected month-on-month growth in U.S. consumer prices in August<\/a>, according to the Labor Department, signaling that tariffs are likely raising inflationary heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the monthly inflation reading overshot estimates from a Dow Jones survey by 0.1 percentage point, the headline annual reading, as well as both monthly and yearly core data, came in as expected.<\/p>\n Granted, that’s not much of a comfort. Having expectations of an unpleasant scenario confirmed doesn’t take away its sting.<\/p>\n That said, the inflation data was accompanied by a separate report that showed weekly jobless claims in the U.S. rose to their highest level in nearly four years.<\/p>\n “Today’s CPI report has been trumped by the jobless claims report,” wrote<\/a> Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.<\/p>\n This reinforces the narrative that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower rates by at least 25 basis points during its meeting next week.<\/p>\n But with so much riding on the Fed, it’s crucial to not just celebrate a possible rate cut next week, but also chew on what Chair Jerome Powell has to say about the economy and monetary policy.<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n U.S. prices heat up. August’s consumer price index rose 0.4% for the month<\/a>, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.9%. It appears that Trump tariffs are showing up in prices<\/a>. Separately, weekly jobless claims jumped to their highest in nearly four years.<\/p>\n Japan will receive a share of profits. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that the U.S. will split with Japan returns from Tokyo’s investments<\/a> in American projects. The pledged $550 billion in investments are part of Japan’s trade deal with the U.S.<\/p>\n China warns Mexico to ‘think twice’ about tariffs. The comments came after Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s sectary of economy, said<\/a> Wednesday the country planned to raise tariffs on vehicles<\/a> coming from Asia, particularly China,\u00a0to 50%\u00a0from the current 20%.\u00a0<\/p>\n All-time highs for major U.S. indexes. On Thursday, the S&P 500<\/a>, Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> and Nasdaq Composite<\/a> closed at fresh records<\/a>. Asian tech stocks, such as SK Hynix, Alibaba<\/a> and Baidu<\/a>, jumped Friday <\/a>on chip-related developments.<\/p>\n [PRO] ‘Meme stocks’ trending online. JPMorgan<\/a> has identified four stocks that are prominent on social media \u2014 and are susceptible to sudden swings in price<\/a> as retail investors and hedge fund shorts pile in.<\/p>\n