Investing.com -- The Dow slumped on Tuesday, posting its biggest daily loss since March 2023 as Treasury yields surged after a hotter-than-expected inflation report cooled expectations for a sooner and more aggressive Federal Reserve's rate cutting cycle.
By 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow futures fell 524 points, or 1.4%, the S&P 500 futures contract fell 1.3%, and the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 1.8%.
Inflation comes in hot to cool Fed rate-cut optimism, pushing Treasury yields higher
Headline annual U.S. inflation slowed to 3.1% pace in January, from 3.4% a month earlier, but that was still above economists estimates of 2.9%.
Core inflation, which the Fed watches more closely as it strips out volatile items like food and fuel, remained at the same annual pace of 3.9% posted in December, but was expected to slow to a 3.7% pace.
Treasury yields jumped, with the 2-year Treasury yield rising 18 basis points to 4.654%, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury surging 14 basis points to 4.315%.
The hotter inflation report was driven by the "lumpy shelter/rent component," RBC said, adding that broader signs of reacceleration in inflation pressures" as well as a strong labor market "are reinforcing the risk that the Fed won't need (or be able to) pivot to interest rate cuts as quickly or aggressively as previously expected."
With a March rate cut all but priced out, investors cut their bets on a May rate cut to 31.6% from nearly 50% the prior day, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Coca-Cola delivers earnings beat, but peak pricing power worries weigh; Biogen, Hasbro stumble on earning stage
Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) closed less than 1% lower after better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and guidance was cast aside by worries about waning pricing power as top-line sales growth from a year earlier.
Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) fell more than 7% after the company reported lower-than-anticipated profit and revenue in its latest quarter, driven by weaker sales across multiple products including Vumerity, Spinraza amid competition and pricing pressures.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) also stumbled on the earnings stage, after its fourth-quarter results and guidance missed Wall Street estimates, sending its shares more than 1% lower.
The toy maker's performance was dragged by it entertainment segment, which came under pressure from industry strikes, and a losses owing to goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges.
Nvidia gets a boost ahead of quarterly earnings next week
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) sidestepped the heavy selling to end the day just below the flatline after Mizuho upgraded its price target on the stock to $825 from $625, as the chipmaker will continue its market dominance amid rising AI demand.
The bullish backing comes come just ahead of the fourth-quarter results due Feb. 21.
Nvidia is up 231% over the past year, with a market cap of about $1.78 trillion.
(Scott Kanowsky, Oliver Gray contributed to this report.)