Investors just got an inflation wakeup call. Will they answer?

Over the past year, investors have been very vocal in their desire for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates while central bank officials have been vocal about keeping them higher-for-longer.

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. Inflation rates in Canada, the EU and Australia have popped higher in recent months. The latest pricing data out of the United States, however, has been rosy. That contrast has led investors to wonder whether the Federal Reserve’s current higher-for-longer policy isn’t such a bad idea, after all. A shifting of the plates: Over the past year, investors have been vocal in their desire for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, while some central bank officials have been equally vocal about keeping them higher for longer. The friction between the two groups occasionally heats up, erupting in bouts of market volatility — large upswings after a promising piece of economic data or downswings following a Fed official’s attempt to tamp down Wall Street’s interest rate expectations. But that disconnect appears to be fading as inflation rates in the US continue to ease.