Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE:RKT) shares are trading lower Wednesday. Consumer Price Index data from March came in hotter-than-expected before the market open.

What To Know:

The CPI data came in at 3.5% year-over-year, versus the estimated 3.4% leading many investors to think the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates higher for longer. The 10-Year Treasury yield climbed to 4.513% following the inflation data release and could lead to higher mortgage rates if the gain holds.

Investors may be anticipating higher mortgage rates and the possibility of fewer interest rates cuts from the Fed, both of which would put pressure on potential home buyers.

Rocket introduced its "Rocket Logic" artificial intelligence (AI) technology platform designed to make the mortgage process more efficient on Tuesday. The company said it combines insights from more than 10 petabytes of proprietary data and 50 million annual call transcripts with deep learning and generative AI systems, allowing Rocket Mortgage to close more loans faster.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, Rocket shares are trading above the stock's 50-day moving average of $12.53, and 13.8% of available shares are being sold short.

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How To Buy RKT Stock:

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Rocket Companies – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of Rocket Companies, which is trading at $12.60 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 7.94 shares of stock.

If you are looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You will need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

RKT Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Rocket Companies shares are down 10.8% at $12.58 at the time of publication Wednesday.

Image: Courtesy of Rocket Companies, Inc.