Wall Street took a nosedive Tuesday following the before-the-bell release of hotter-than-expected January consumer inflation data. In response, bonds sold off, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield above 4.30% and equity prices sharply lower. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were all down more than 1.5%, as the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in May dropped to 33% from prior levels above 61%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The headline consumer price index (CPI) number was up 0.3% in January versus 0.2% expected, and up 3.1% year over year versus up 2.9% expected. The core rate, excluding food and gas prices, was up 0.4% month over month versus up 0.3% expected, and up 3.9% year over year versus up 3.7% expected.