Bitcoin, that digital chimera, strutted at $119,156, while Ethereum, its lesser sibling, preened at $4,422.58. Yet, beneath the surface, the core CPI, that stubborn specter, climbed 3.1% year-over-year, a reminder that inflation, like guilt, lingers in the shadows. The monthly rise of 0.3%, its largest since January, hinted at a fire still smoldering beneath the ashes. Ah, the irony! Even as the Fed divides like a family at a funeral, two governors clamoring for a rate cut, the first such schism since 1993, the markets cling to hope like a drowning man to a splinter of wood.