US media: Powell faces a "delicate balance" between employment and prices as his term draws to a close.

The Wall Street Journal's review of the US January CPI report indicated that the January CPI rose 2.4% year-on-year, lower than the previous value and market expectations; excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 2.5% year-on-year, in line with expectations. Earlier this week, the non-farm payroll report showed that January job growth exceeded expectations and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%. Despite the positive impact of slowing inflation and robust employment, the Federal Reserve faces a delicate balance in the final months of Chairman Powell's eight-year term: curbing inflation without harming the labor market. Aggressive interest rate hikes thwarted the price surge in 2022, but with subsiding inflation and a cooling job market, the Fed has cumulatively cut rates by nearly 2 percentage points since the summer of 2024, pausing in January. With increasing signs of easing price pressures, economists generally expect inflation to decline further in 2026. (Jinshi)