The Treasury Department has also eliminated the option of buying as much as $5,000 in extra inflation bonds, beyond the $10,000 annual limit.

Long a focus of conservatives, the level of public borrowing is starting to concern left-leaning economists. Proposed remedies still differ radically.

The European Central Bank’s reduction, the fifth consecutive cut since last summer, came a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates.

Fears of inflation and more debt are already making borrowing more expensive.

The market perked up late in the year when interest rates eased, but affordability challenges yielded the fewest transactions since 1995.

Economists and analysts aren’t convinced that an expansion of oil and gas production will lower consumer prices.

The return of inflation and wage growth is giving the Bank of Japan room to raise interest rates and declare the end of a long period of stagnation.

Tariffs and tax cuts amid high interest rates and lingering inflation will pose a test for the U.S. economy.

The latest jump threatens to sideline more buyers and sellers.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, but a measure of underlying inflation was more encouraging.

A December gain of 256,000 blew past forecasts, and unemployment fell to 4.2 percent. But markets recoiled as interest rate cuts seemed more distant.

Stronger-than-expected data on the labor market has added to clues that the economy continues to run at a solid pace, amplifying fears about stubborn inflation.

Stubborn inflation, and potential tariffs, make future rate cuts uncertain.