The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Nov. 15, edition that U.S. inflation broadly slowed in October, which markets cheered as a strong indication that the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that the so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.2 per cent from September, according to government figures. Economists favour the core gauge as a better indicator of underlying inflation than the overall CPI. That measure was little changed, restrained by cheaper gasoline. Despite some bumps in recent months, inflation has settled substantially from a 40-year high reached last year. That has led several Fed policymakers to signal that they may be done raising interest rates, but chairman Jerome Powell has repeatedly stressed the central bank could hike again if needed. The S&P 500 index opened higher and Treasury yields declined significantly as traders essentially wiped out the chance of another rate hike. They also pulled forward bets of when the Fed will first cut rates into the first half of next year. Shelter prices climbed 0.3 per cent, half the prior month's pace.