CPI data remains scorching hot

The consumer price index came in hotter than expected in January, as both the CPI inflation rate and the core rate, excluding food and energy, hit new 39-year highs. Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq losses deepened in Thursday afternoon stock market action as Wall Street priced in additional Fed rate hikes. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield crested 2% for the first time since August 2019 and kept on rising.

The CPI rose 0.6% from the prior month and 7.5% vs. a year ago, the biggest annual gain since February 1982, the Labor Department said. The core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy categories, also rose 0.6% from December, while the annual core inflation rate rose to 6%.

Most economists have been looking for inflation pressures to begin easing from current levels in coming months as softer seasonal demand over the winter takes some pressure off of supply chains. Yet Thursday's CPI data reduced optimism that inflation will wane quickly.