The Dow and the S&P 500 ended slightly higher on Wednesday while the Nasdaq lost ground after October data showed consumer prices rising in line with expectations, adding support to bets that the U.S.

U.S. inflation rose 2.6% on an annual basis last month, representing an uptick from September when the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates amid signs of cooling prices and a weaker labor market.

Forget the "Fed put." These days, it's starting to seem like the Federal Reserve has been working on a new derivative: the Fed call. That's according to Doug Ramsey, chief investment officer and portfolio manager at the Leuthold Group.

U.S. inflation ticked higher in October, but stable core price pressures and tame month-on-month gains prompted a sigh of relief on Wall Street and likely supported bets for an end-of-year interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

The consumer price index rose 0.2% in October for the fourth straight month, and advanced 2.6% on an annual basis.

Last month, we were impressed with a very strong jobs report for September that called into question whether or not the labor market was really declining, as seemed

While the current pace of rising prices appears to have leveled off, the expected path of rate cuts has become less certain.

Forecasters had expected lingering inflation in October. How will the new numbers affect the next Federal Reserve decision on interest rates?

U.S. consumer prices increased as expected in October, and progress toward bringing inflation down has slowed since mid-year, which could result in fewer interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year.

Its annual rate rose to 4.9 per cent in October from 4.8 per cent a month earlier The October CPI data will not preclude a further quarter-point cut in December. Core inflation remained steady, and the Federal Reserve expects shelter inflation — the dominant constituent of CPI — to come down in the coming months given leading indicators of rent price increases have subsided.