Advertisment
The S&P 500 tumbled and interest rates spiked Wednesday after consumer prices rose more than expected in January, raising concern that inflation may reignite.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 225.09 points to close Wednesday at 44,368.56
The much-broader index dropped 16.53 points to 6,051.97
The tech-heavy NASDAQ eked higher 6.09 points to 19,649.95.
Helping sentiment were comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson who said, according to Reuters, the White House was considering reciprocal tariff exemptions on products like pharmaceuticals and automobiles.
GM and Ford shares traded into the green, along with Eli Lilly
January’s consumer price index jumped 0.5% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3%. Both were more than the 0.3% and 2.9% increases expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core CPI rose 0.4% on the month and 3.3% for the past 12 months, both higher than expected.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were bruised, raising yields to 4.63% from Tuesday’s 4.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices settled two dollars to $71.32 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold backed off $7.90 an ounce to $2,924.70 U.S.
