Fed Rate Cuts Are Now a Matter of If, Not Just When

Another firmer-than-anticipated inflation report delivered a meaningful setback Wednesday to the Federal Reserve’s hope that it could buoy prospects of a so-called soft landing by dialing back some of the past year’s interest-rate increases.

Solid hiring and the prospect that inflation might settle out closer to 3% than the Fed’s 2% goal could call into question whether the central bank will be able to cut rates until much later in the year without evidence of a sharper slowdown in the economy.

A third straight month in which prices were hotter than...