By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks sold off sharply after August’s inflation report came in higher than expected.
At 9:51 ET (13:51 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 543 points, or 1.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 2% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 2.8%.
The consumer price index for August showed inflation rose 0.1% from July despite the drop in the price of gasoline. From last year, inflation was up 8.3%, while analysts had expected an 8.1% print.
This is the last inflation report before the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week, and expectations are now set for the central bank to raise interest rates another 0.75 percentage point, as it did in both July and June.
Had inflation numbers come in at or below expectations, it could have given the Fed reason to raise rates less dramatically. But the Fed is determined to quash inflation despite the risk of pushing the economy into a recession.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shares rose 2.4% after meeting expectations on revenue, which was up 18% from last year.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares dipped 1.3% as a whistleblower prepared to testify to the Senate about his claims of security lapses at the social media company.
Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures inched up 0.3%, to $88.08 and Brent Oil Futures crude was flat at $93.95. Gold Futures was down 1.2% to $1719 an ounce.