For all the talk of soft landings and fading inflation pressure, the latest round of data on the U.S. economy still shows some heat. Why it matters: Demand across the U.S. economy remains solid — a key reason the nation has dodged a recession. • The flip side is the possibility that inflation will be more persistent than policymakers anticipate, owing to factors the Federal Reserve can't control: energy prices. Driving the news: Retail sales rose 0.6% in August — much more than economists expected. That was largely due to higher prices at gasoline stations, where receipts increased by 5.2%. • But excluding gas ... (full story)