Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett. And I'm Amna Nawaz. On the news hour tonight, new economic

data show a slower than expected rise in prices, but Americans remain concerned about the cost of living.

We fact-checked the claims President Trump made in his year-end White House address.

And the United States announces a multi-billion dollar weapon sale to Taiwan, prompting condemnation from China.

I think the Russia-Ukraine war is a wake-up call for Taiwan.

Like Ukraine, we have a powerful adversary nearby.

Welcome to the News Hour.

Inflation is showing fresh signs of cooling, ticking up 2.7% year over year,

nearly half a point lower than many economists had expected. The new data follows the release this week of a long-delayed jobs report that showed weak growth and the highest unemployment rate in four

years. Taken together, the numbers could bolster the case for more rate cuts in

26, though economists caution data collection for both reports was significantly affected by

the government shutdown. Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the third time

in four months, citing downside risks in the employment market as its major concern.

For a perspective on the economy, we're joined now by Austin Goulsby, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Welcome back to the program.

Thank you for having me.

So let's start with today's inflation report.

What stands out to you in these numbers?

Well, there's a lot to like in the report

that we saw today. If you remember, because of the government shutdown, we just literally

went dark on inflation data. And what we saw right before it went dark was a little bit

disturbing. There were some categories of inflation that looked like they were going up

...