stock futures point to slight declines in europe on friday in asia stock benchmarks were mixed treasury yields were mostly higher the dollar gained oil slipped and gold advanced european stocks may face a muted open on friday after rallying in closing trade the previous day on softer us december cpi data the latest us inflation report showed cooling price pressures for the sixth consecutive month likely keeping the federal reserve on track to slow its pace of interestrate increases however market analysts said some traders had been hoping to see a more significant decline after inflation came in lower than economists had expected during the prior two months the release is a little underwhelming said principal asset management not only are the numbers exactly in line with consensus expectations but they dont really clear up the 25bps vs 50bps question for the feds february meeting and add nothing to the late2023 fed pivot debate either wall street widely expects the central bank to raise its benchmark rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to a range between 45 and 475 on feb 1 exencial wealth advisors contends that the stock market over the past week has anticipated the slowdown in inflation and investors have been right to start the market on a positive note so far in 2023 however there are enough problems to keep inflation elevated for several more quarters as investors deal with distortions in different parts of the economy the dollar climbed after us inflation eased for the sixth straight month this inflation report supports the idea that the fed could be close to done with raising rates soon and that the us economy might avoid or see only a shallow recession oanda said fed members are clearly signaling a smaller tightening pace going forward markets are now pricing in a 932 chance of a quarterpoint rate increase at the feb 1 fomc meeting up sharply from 767 yesterday and 351 a month ago meanwhile a strong performance in eurozone equities is likely a large reason for the euros recent gains ing said the euro has shown some independent strength rising strongly against european currencies particularly the swiss franc ing said we are still seeing eurozone equity outperformance which must be providing the euro with some good support it said treasury yields were mixed after the eagerly awaited us cpi reading showed inflation continued to slow in line with expectations the 3month annualized core cpi is down to 31 and at least another 1 lower if using new leases versus existing leases that have a six to twelve month lag we continue to expect the fed to only raise rates two more times as cpi continues to moderate said sit investment associates the market does not believe the feds insistence that they will actually go above 5 and stay there for an extended period this is best reflected in the us 2year yieldwhich is as low as its been since early october 22 many fed rate increases ago navellier  associates said crudeoil prices slipped in asia after gains the previous session when the release of softer us inflation data led to a decline in the us dollar which helped lift the dollardenominated prices of oil crude oil is likely to be up for the week saxo said the riskon tone for the commodity is due to chinas steady commitment to reopen its economy and chinese buyers becoming more active in the physical market after import quotas were increased it added a number of signs including an increase in crude oil import quotas suggest a recovery in chinese oil demand this year said ing although the big uncertainty remains just how big a recovery we will actually see in our balance sheet we assume that china will make up 50 of the 17 million barrels a day of global demand growth expected this year gold prices were a tad higher in asia slightly extending gains following the release of us cpi data the data raised expectations for slower fed rate hikes and pressured the us dollar providing support for precious metals however given that gold prices have been climbing steadily since november they could run out of momentum in the shortterm oanda said oanda thinks that gold will need to have a daily close above 1900 to move even higher the three most significant factors contributing to golds price strength so far this year are china buying us dollar weakness and falling us treasury yields said sprott asset management despite golds climb however wolfpack capital believes prices for the metal does not have much further room to run before profit taking stalls the recent momentum in particular if a riskon trade returns the brokerages tracking of positions in the market point to substantial shortcovering activity as traders square their books ahead of the upcoming lunar new year holiday it said the markets have been buoyed by prospects of a jump in chinas industrial activity said anz research a slowing in the feds rate increases could also lead to economic growth across developed countries holding up better than previously anticipated anz added the markets are locked in a game of chicken with the fed the federal reserve says it is too early to think about cutting interest rates this year investors are growing more convinced that is exactly what the central bank is going to do the clash between investors hopes and fed policy and how it ultimately resolves is shaping up to be one of the biggest question marks for financial markets in 2023 fed must remain on guard on inflation james bullard says inflation is moderating in response to the federal reserves aggressive rate hikes of 2022 but the central bank must continue to guard against the risk that price increases stay high or reaccelerate federal reserve bank of st louis president james bullard said the policy maker also said the market is probably too optimistic about inflation speaking at an economic forecast forum thursday saudi arabia seeks to lure global miners in bid to overhaul its economy riyadh saudi arabiasaudi officials are wooing top mining companies to help exploit untapped mineral deposits in the kingdom that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars as the worlds biggest exporter of oil accelerates plans to build new industries away from hydrocarbons the fourthlargest net importer of minerals globally has a small domestic mining industry despite unverified estimates putting its mineral wealth at over 13 trillion including deposits of copper zinc phosphates uranium and gold the results of a new survey are expected by 2027 rare earth find in sweden lifts hope for shift toward clean energy kiruna swedenthe discovery here of a large deposit of rare earth elements vital for renewable energy and electric vehicles offers fresh hopes for europes transition away from fossil fuels and a lessened reliance on china the worlds top supplier of the critical minerals announcing potentially the largest known find in europe swedish stateowned mining company lkab said thursday that some of the rare earth elements in the deposit could be used to produce permanent magnets which are components in motors for electric vehicles and wind turbines the company said the rare earth elements could be produced as a byproduct of mining iron ore apple ceo tim cook to take a 40 pay cut this year apple inc chief executive tim cook has asked for a big cut in compensation this year mr cooks total compensation target for 2023 will be 49 million the company said in a thursday filing it said that is more than 40 lower than his target compensation of 2022 google says supreme court ruling could potentially upend the internet washingtona case before the supreme court challenging the liability shield protecting websites such as youtube and facebook could upend the internet resulting in both widespread censorship and a proliferation of offensive content google said in a court filing thursday in a new brief filed with the high court google said that scaling back liability protections could lead internet giants to block more potentially offensive contentincluding controversial political speechwhile also leading smaller websites to drop their filters to avoid liability that can arise from efforts to screen content all times in gmt powered by onclusive and dow jones write to us at newslettersdowjonescom