Markets had their eyes firmly on last week’s U.S. inflation report for clues ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting. While headline CPI ticked higher to 2.9% in August, much of the increase came from energy prices, with core inflation holding steady at 3.1%. At the same time, producer price inflation cooled sharply, suggesting that businesses are absorbing tariff-related costs rather than passing them on to consumers. But the real story lies in the labour market.