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Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened lower after June’s consumer price index came in at a hotter-than-expected 9.1% gain for the year.
At 9:40 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 183 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1.1%.
Analysts had hoped Wednesday’s inflation reading would show signs that price increases had peaked and were starting to come down, though remained elevated. Gasoline prices are already coming down at the pump, for example. But perhaps that was not in enough time for the CPI for last month, which showed persistently high fuel and food prices and high shelter prices, leading to a new 40-year high reading.
Without the volatile inputs, core prices rose 0.7% from May, their biggest increase in a year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics called the increase broad-based, with food, fuel and housing making up half of the monthly increase.
The red-hot number could encourage the Federal Reserve on its path to raising interest rates quickly, by another 0.75-percentage-point increment later this month, at least. The Fed sees fighting inflation as its primary concern.
Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) shares fell 6% after the carrier reported mixed results, missing on EPS expectations but beating on revenue. Margins were hit by rising costs, especially for fuel.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares rose 3% after the social media company sued in a Delaware court, asking that Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal be honored.
Shares of industrial distributor Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) fell 6% after it reported weakening demand.
Oil fell as President Joe Biden visited the Middle East this week. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 0.4%, to $95.50 a barrel and Brent Oil Futures crude fell 0.6%, to $98.88 a barrel. Gold Futures dipped 0.3%, to $1,720 an ounce.
