NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks retreated early Tuesday following a US consumer price report that showed only limited moderation in the inflation that has pressured central bank interest rate increases.
The consumer price index reading rose 6.4 percent in January from a year ago, according to US Labor Department data.
Although this marks the smallest annual increase since October 2021, this level is well above policymakers’ two percent target.
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“The key takeaway from the report is that there has been a clear deceleration from peak inflation,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
“However the inflation rates are not nearly low enough to suggest the Fed would even be thinking about cutting rates this year.”
About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 percent at 34,050.26.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.5 percent to 4,115.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 percent to 11,817.47.
The report is expected to keep the Federal Reserve on a rate-hiking path. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a proxy for Fed interest rates, rose early Tuesday following the report.
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