Americans seemed a tad more cheery about the economy this month, while a delayed inflation report came in better than expected.

Follow for live news and analysis of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index. The September reading is due to be released on Friday morning.

Stocks are back on the doorstep of record territory after a volatile month on Wall Street, but persistent inflation worries and souring consumer sentiment are keeping investors uneasy ahead of the Fed’s last policy meeting of the year.

Visa found that 47% of U.S. shoppers used AI for at least one holiday task, with gift discovery ranking as the top use case. And the crypto crossover is becoming undeniable. Over 28% of Americans say they would be excited to receive cryptocurrency as a gift. For Gen Z, that number jumps to 45%, nearly one in two young adults.

Inflation in the euro area will probably remain near the European Central Bank’s goal for the time being, though the outlook is still clouded by the situation around tariffs, according to President Christine Lagarde.

The latest inflation data release, September's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, showed prices rose in line with expectations. This report will be the US federal government's final data release before the Federal Reserve's last FOMC meeting of the year,

Bank of America shared its inflation forecast with TheStreet, based on the core (excluding volatile food and energy) Personal Consumption Expenditures ( PCE) index. Directionally, PCE and CPI tend to move together, suggesting we’ll similarly see a flattening of inflation pressures as we get deeper into next year.

Wall Street's major averages were higher on Friday, as traders assessed fresh inflation data in hopes of gauging the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, while news of Netflix (NFLX) acquiring Warner Bros.