On a Friday in September 2026, cooler-than-expected inflation figures from August arrived like a change in wind direction, and financial markets moved swiftly to read the shift. Both stocks and bonds climbed together — a rare alignment that spoke not merely to optimism, but to a collective recalibration of what the near future might hold. For months, the specter of persistent inflation had kept investors in a defensive crouch, but this single data release cracked open the possibility that the long season of monetary tightening may be drawing to a close. Markets, as they often do, began pricing