NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks dropped to their worst day since July on Wednesday following the latest signal that inflation is getting worse.
The S&P 500 sank 1.1% for a fifth loss in the six days since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.9% as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry led the way 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 catapulted out of the crevasse created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s accelerated recently in part because of jumps in fuel prices caused by the war with Iran, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude added 0.4% Wednesday to $106.06.
That has added to the longstanding worries about fast-rising debt loads for governments, signals that the U.S. economy is still growing and other factors that have sent bond yields to their highest levels in years.