A softer-than-expected inflation reading in the United States offered global markets a moment of collective exhale, nudging equities toward record territory and easing the long-held fear of an imminent Federal Reserve rate increase. The data — showing core prices at their steadiest pace since early 2021 — did not resolve the deeper tensions of a strong economy, volatile energy markets, and an artificial intelligence boom still searching for its valuation floor. It granted, instead, what markets so often hunger for: a pause in the pressure, and room to reconsider.