According to Odaily Planet Daily, the Wall Street Journal's review of the US January CPI report indicates 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)

According to Odaily Planet Daily, the newly appointed president of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Law Cheuk-kin, stated that guidelines are being drafted to help the accounting and business communities understand how to handle virtual assets in accounting. The first part of the guidelines, concerning virtual currencies and stablecoins, has already been released. The yet-to-be-published second part relates to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's (HKMA) audit requirements for stablecoins, and the Institute is currently discussing this with the HKMA, with an expected release within six months. The third part of the virtual asset accounting guidelines aims to be released as early as the end of the year, but this will require further communication and consensus with regulators and the industry before its release. (Hong Kong Economic Journal)

According to Gate data, as reported by Odaily Planet Daily, spot gold's gains later retreated, last trading at $4,987 per ounce; the US dollar index (DXY) rebounded, last trading at 96.93.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% month-over-month in January, slightly lower than the 0.3% increase in December and also lower than economists' expectations of 0.3%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.3% month-over-month, slightly higher than the 0.2% increase in December. Year-over-year, the CPI rose 2.4%, a slowdown from December's 2.7%, mainly due to the high base effect from last year; the core CPI rose 2.5% year-over-year, lower than December's 2.6%. The January report included, for the first time, an update to the seasonal adjustment factor reflecting price changes in 2025. Economists pointed out that the core CPI data in January often exceeds expectations because the Bureau of Labor Statistics model fails to fully account for one-off price increases at the beginning of the year. This month's increase may reflect both this year-over-year effect and the transmission effect of Trump's broad tariffs. Despite the slowing inflation, a stabilizing labor market may allow the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged for some time. Economists expect that inflation may rebound in stages this year due to the transmission of import tariffs and the depreciation of the dollar last year. (Golden Ten)

According to Odaily Planet Daily, following the release of CPI data, expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut in 2026 have risen to 61 basis points, up from the previous estimate of 58 basis points. (Jinshi)