Over the past couple of days, the broader equity markets have hit record highs on the trot, buoyed by a tamer inflation report that greatly increased the probability of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve as early as the policy meeting scheduled next month. While the July report revealed that the consumer price index rose 2.7% on an annualized basis compared with broad-based expectations of a 2.8% rise, the core CPI (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) increased 3.1% year on year — sli ...