• The closely watched US January CPI report comes out on Friday morning.
• Headline annual inflation and core CPI are both seen rising 2.5%.
• Here’s what to watch and how markets could react.

As markets gear up for the delayed release of the January Consumer Price Index () data on Friday, investors are bracing for insights into whether inflation is finally cooling or if persistent pressures will linger into the new year.

The report, originally slated for earlier in the week but postponed due to the partial government shutdown, comes on the heels of a surprisingly strong January jobs report that added 130,000 nonfarm payrolls and ticked the down to 4.3%.

This robust labor data has already tempered expectations for aggressive , shifting…