It echoed some glimmers of encouragement buried within Friday’s report on the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation. So have several big-name retailers, and such bad news for businesses could actually mean some relief for shoppers if it leads to more discounts. Nike isn’t the only company to see its inventories balloon. Vice Chair Lael Brainard was the latest Fed official on Friday to insist it won’t pull back on rates prematurely. That should keep the Fed on track to keep hiking rates and hold them at high levels a while, raising the risk of it going too far and causing a downturn. On Friday, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation showed it was worse last month than economists expected. The Federal Reserve has been at the forefront of the global campaign to slow economic growth and hurt job markets just enough to undercut inflation but not so much that it causes a recession. “This is what the market is trying to navigate now.” “Quite frankly, if it’s a deep recession you’re going to have to see more of a sell-off,” said Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial. The main reason financial markets continue to struggle is fear about a possible recession, as interest rates soar in hopes of beating down the high inflation that’s swept the world. It’s now at its lowest level since November 2020 and is down by more than a quarter since the start of the year. The benchmark index ended the month with a 9.3% loss and posted its third straight losing quarter. (AP) – Wall Street closed out a miserable September on Friday with the S&P 500’s worst monthly skid since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic crashed global markets.