Market Extra
Stock investors brace for possibly the ‘most important inflation reading in recent memory’
Wednesday’s CPI data for December have investors exposed to surprises in either direction

By Vivien Lou Chen
Last Updated: Jan. 14, 2025 at 12:45 p.m. ET
First Published: Jan. 14, 2025 at 11:53 a.m. ET

Investors and traders are on edge about what Wednesday’s consumer-price index for December might say about the direction of inflation — data that could potentially move the stock and bond markets in a pretty big way.

The stakes are high because investors are exposed to surprises in either direction from the CPI report. The annual headline CPI inflation rate — which fell for six straight months from April to September 2024 — is now anticipated to edge back up for a third straight month, to 2.9% from 2.7% in November, based on the median estimate of economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. Expectations are for this annual headline rate to approach 3% for the first time since July, a few months before the Federal Reserve delivered the first of its three 2024 rate cuts.

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