So, about that economic soft landing everyone's been talking about... the latest data shows the plane might be descending a bit faster than expected. The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to advance estimates released Friday. That's a sharp deceleration from the 4.4% pace clocked in the third quarter and well below the 3% growth economists had penciled in.

In a separate but equally important release, the inflation picture got a little more complicated. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the broad measure the Fed watches, inched up to 2.9% year-over-year in December from 2.8% in November. Forecasts had expected it to stay flat.

More notably, the core PCE index—which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is the Fed's absolute favorite gauge—advanced to 3% from 2.8%. That topped expectations for a rise to just 2.9%. So, growth is slowing down more than expected, but the inflation the Fed is trying to cool is, for now, still heating up a bit. It's a mixed bag that makes the central bank's next move even trickier to call.