October inflation readings out this week have shown little progress toward the Fed's 2% inflation target, putting into question how deeply the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2025. On Wednesday,

Economists expect the Fed to announce another quarter-point rate cut in December, after a quarter-point reduction last week and half-point cut in September.

October's Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures changes in the cost of consumer goods and services, showed that annual inflation rose by 2.6%. That's not an alarmingly high rate of inflation. It's also only a modest uptick from September's CPI reading, which measured annual inflation at 2.4%.

Wholesale prices in the US rose last month, remaining low but suggesting that the American economy has yet to completely vanquish inflationary pressure. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.