“The annual inflation rate remained elevated last month, with Americans still paying high prices for gasoline,” the Wall Street Journal reports.“The inflation rate held steady at 3.4% in August, the Labor Department said Friday. That matched analyst expectations and was even with July’s 3.4%.”“The August inflation reading has big implications for a Federal Reserve that has been sharply divided over whether it should raise rates at its policy-setting meeting next week. At the Fed’s last meeting, in July, three officials dissented in favor of raising rates, and others have since said they could join them if inflation doesn’t improve. Heading into Friday’s report, interest-rate futures implied there was a two in three chance the central bank would increase its target range on overnight rates by a quarter point.”