High interest rates and the rising cost of funding were already a top concern for CFOs. Now, that concern could grow following a strong December jobs report—one of the key pieces of data assessed by the Federal Reserve—that has led some economists to predict there will be fewer rate cuts this year,

Federal Reserve policymakers got fresh reasons to hold short-term borrowing costs steady after government data signaled renewed strength in the U.S. job market, with traders now betting the U.S. central bank will wait until June to cut interest rates again and end its rate-cutting cycle there.

Some economists are now contemplating what was previously unthinkable — and they are focused on the personal-consumption expenditures price index