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.

Don't look for the Federal Reserve to start making big promises on further monetary-policy easing after the October reading of the consumer-price index matched market expectations but showed plenty of price stickiness,

The main driver of CPI continues to be shelter, which comprises more than a third of the overall inflation basket. Shelter inflation ticked back up to 4.9 per cent in October from 4.8 per cent in September. The Fed is not worried about elevated shelter inflation going forward, nor should it be.

The Labor Department on Wednesday reported that consumer prices in October rose 2.6% from a year earlier. That marks a pickup in the pace of inflation from September, when prices were up 2.4% on the year.

A rapid slowdown in the rate of U.S. inflation appears to have lost steam, potentially raising questions about how aggressively the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates early next year.

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.

Following today's inflation data, traders of short-term interest-rate futures contracts adjusted their expectations to now see a heightened probability of an additional quarter-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in its