NewzNEW YORK (AP) — Worries about worsening inflation are weighing on Wall Street Wednesday and pulling the U.S. stock market further from its record.The S&P 500 dropped 0.9% and was on track for a fifth loss in the six days since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 88 points, or 0.2%, as of 11:45 a.m.
Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower.Stocks felt pressure from rising yields in the bond market, where worries grew after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for fuel, food and other costs of living last month that were 3.7% higher overall than a year earlier. That means inflation accelerated from its 3.4% rate in August and was worse than the 3.6% that economists expected.Inflation has remained more painful than anyone would like since the economy launched out of the crevasse created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s breathed in new life recently because of jumps in fuel prices caused by the war with Iran, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude added 0.1% Wednesday to $105.76.That has built on signals that the U.S. economy is still growing, longstanding worries about fast-rising debt loads for governments and other factors to send yields to their highest levels in years or even decades in bond markets worldwide.The centerpiece of the U.S. bond market, the 10-year Treasury, saw its yield rise to 5.23% from less than 5.17% just before the inflation report’s release.
During the morning, it briefly jumped above 5.32% and pulled back toward its highest level since 2002.Yields on shorter-term Treasurys had even bigger leaps as traders raised their expectations for coming hikes to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.The Fed last month raised the interest rate that it controls, which affects very short-term loans, for the first time in three years in hopes of reining in inflation. Higher rates do that by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money and slowing the overall economy.Traders now see a 39% chance that the Fed will raise the federal funds rate at its next meeting in two weeks, up from the 22% probability seen just a day earlier, according to data from CME Group.“The consumer price index was a little hotter than expected, but not scorching hot,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. “It was just hot enough to keep traders on edge.”Part of what's keeping…
NEW YORK (AP) — Worries about worsening inflation are weighing on the U.S. stock market Wednesday and pulling Wall Street further from its record.The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and was on track for a fifth loss in the six days since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m.
Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower.Stocks felt pressure from rising yields in the bond market, where worries grew after a report said U.S. economy is still growing, longstanding worries about fast-growing debt loads for governments and other factors to send yields to their highest levels in years or even decades in bond markets worldwide.The centerpiece of the U.S. bond market, the 10-year Treasury, saw its yield jump to 5.26% from less than 5.17% just before the inflation report’s release.
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