A key inflation report due Thursday morning is expected to show price pressures holding steady, reinforcing why Federal Reserve officials remain cautious about cutting interest rates. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed deep unease about President Trump’s attempt to fire Fed board member Lisa Cook, and their comments during the nearly two-hour hearing signaled that the court will likely allow her to remain in the job. And Trump reversed course on imposing tariffs on several European countries after reaching a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland and the Arctic region with NATO's secretary-general. Elsewhere, Norway’s central bank on Thursday held its key rate as it assesses the impact of the cuts and awaits more economic data to guide its next move. Malaysia’s central bank also stayed the course as the economy remains stable and external risks persist, while Turkey's central bank reduced borrowing costs for a fifth meeting in a row as inflation cooled further in December.

Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum expressed deep unease on Wednesday about President Trump’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve, with several stressing the importance of a central bank insulated from political pressure.

Their comments during nearly two hours of oral arguments signaled that the court will likely allow Fed board member Lisa Cook to remain in the job while her legal challenge to her dismissal proceeds in the lower courts.

The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, is forecast to show core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% in November and 2.8% from a year earlier, according to FactSet estimates. Headline PCE is also expected to increase 0.2% on the month and 2.8% year-over-year. The November PCE report, due at 10 a.m. ET, may confirm that progress toward price stability is continuing—just not quickly enough to move policy yet, keeping the Fed in wait-and-see mode. (Barron's)

Trump said his trade and tariffs policy had led to a boom in factory construction and trade deals with a number of countries that would benefit the U.S. Numbers from the St. Louis Fed show that overall factory spending fell for the first eight months of 2025 from a peak in 2024. The U.S. has lost manufacturing jobs every month since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April. Here are some more highlights.

• Inside Trump’s Head-Spinning Greenland U-Turn

8:30 a.m.: GDP
8:30 a.m.: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims
11 a.m.: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Survey of Tenth District Manufacturing

4 a.m.: Japan Monetary Policy Meeting decision
8:30 a.m.: GDP by State
9:45 a.m.: US Flash Manufacturing PMI
9:45 a.m.: US Flash Services PMI
10 a.m.: University of Michigan Survey of Consumers - final

In discussing the imminent decision of the next Fed Chair, President Trump says he is close to a pick in a CNBC interview. "I'd say we're down to three, but we're down to two," Trump says. "I probably can tell you we're down to maybe one in my mind," he added. Among those in contention are National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, Fed governor Christopher Waller and Blackrock executive Rick Rieder. Trump says he would want a new Fed Chair to lead like former chair Alan Greenspan did in the 1990s, when the economy saw high productivity without a need to hike rates. — Jessica Coacci

News of a surprise fall in Australia's unemployment rate in December almost certainly triggered a cry of delight from the office of Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. While she's a determined inflation hawk, a rise in the jobless rate this year would have been truly upsetting for Bullock. So the fall in the jobless rate to 4.1% will allow the RBA now to focus exclusively on 4Q CPI data at the end of the month, with any hint of problems in the area of trimmed mean inflation set to lock in a hike in February. The RBA wants to get back on top of inflation risks. — James Glynn

• For the first time since the start of the private-credit boom, large numbers of individual investors are trying to get their money out.
• European Union lawmakers voted to assess the legality of the EU’s landmark trade agreement with South American countries signed on Saturday.
• Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD is leading a pack of Chinese automakers whose global export onslaught has surpassed even bullish expectations.

WSJ Pro Central Banking brings you central banking news, analysis and insights from WSJ’s global team of reporters and editors. This newsletter was compiled by markets reporter Vicky Ge Huang in New York. Send your tips, suggestions and feedback to vicky.huang@wsj.com.