New Inflation Numbers Please Wall Street

US inflation rose slightly last month, though the uptick wasn't as bad as most economists expected. Wall Street seemed pretty happy about that. The details:

• Consumer prices increased 3% in September from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up from 2.9% in August, per the AP. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expected a rise of 3.1%.
• Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices also rose 3%, a decline from 3.1% in the previous month. Again, most economists predicted a 3.1% rise in September.

• Both figures are above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, but the modest numbers suggest the Fed is still on track to cut interest rates for the second time this year when it meets next week.
• Dow futures rose more than 200 points given the optimism about two possible rate cuts before the end of the year, reports CNBC. "There was little in today's benign CPI report to 'spook' the Fed and we continue to expect further easing at next week's Fed meeting," said Lindsay Rosner of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "A December rate cut also remains likely with the current data drought providing the Fed with little reason to deviate from the path set out in the dot plot."