The central bank’s recent infusion of financial-market brawn includes Beth Hammack, who worked for three decades at Goldman Sachs.

Fears of elevated interest rates dampened the mood on Wall Street at the start of this year–but cooling core inflation and dovish comments by Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller have given investors reason to feel a bit more cheerful this week.

Consumer Price Index showed an acceleration to 2.9%, the highest rate since July. With such high inflation, the Fed is unlikely to cut rates in January.