Investing.com – Wall Street was lower on Wednesday after a better than expected inflation report sparked investor concern over raising interest rates.
The S&P 500 was down eight points or 0.31% to 2,654.66 as of 9:43 AM ET (14:43 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 116 points or 0.47% to 24,524.0, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was down five points or 0.08% to 7,008.17.
Markets were on edge after U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in January, supporting speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates more than expected this year.
The Labor Department said that consumer prices rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% last month, above forecasts for an increase of 0.3% and following a gain of 0.2% in December.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 2.1% higher from the same month a year earlier, beating expectations for a gain of 1.9% and after rising 2.1% in the preceding month.
Social media site Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) fell 1.70% after the morning bell rang while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dipped 0.91% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 0.66%. Meanwhile TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) slumped 1.96% ahead of its earnings report while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched down 0.31%.
Elsewhere Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose 1.62% while fashion designer Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) surged 77.21% after reporting higher than expected earnings. Restaurant group Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) ws up 12.84% after it announced Taco Bell’s CEO Brian Niccol would step in as its new CEO.
In Europe stocks were up. In Germany the DAX rose 33 points or 0.27% while France’s CAC 40 increased 20 points or 0.40% and in London the FTSE 100 gained 38 points or 0.53%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 17 points or 0.18% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched up four points or 0.13%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.46% to $1,336.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 1.39% to $58.37 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.20% to 89.78.