While the Fed is likely to keep interest rates unchanged next week, an encouraging February CPI report raises the odds for more easing later this year.

As measured by CPI, inflation in the US is set to rise at an annual pace of 2.9% in February, down slightly from 3.0% reported in January. Core CPI inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, is expected to ease to 3.2% in the same period from a year earlier, compared to a 3.3% growth in January.