The Dow Jones Industrials faltered 524.89 points, or 1.4%, to close a disastrous Tuesday at 38,272.49, its biggest drop since March 2023, when it fell 1.6%.
The S&P 500 index slid 68.68 points, or 1.4%, to 4,953.16.
The NASDAQ index let go of 286.95 points, or 1.8%, to 15,655.60.
In corporate news, JetBlue Airways spiked 20% after activist investor Carl Icahn reported a nearly 10% stake in the airline. Toymaker Hasbro lost 3% after missing analyst expectations for the fourth quarter. Shares of Avis Budget Group slipped 22% on the back of disappointing fourth-quarter revenue.
The consumer price index rose 0.3% in January from December. CPI was up 3.1% on an annual basis. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected CPI to have increased by 0.2% month over month in January and 2.9% from a year earlier.
Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy components, rose 0.4% month over month and 3.9% from a year ago. Core CPI was expected to have increased 0.3% in January and 3.7% from a year earlier, respectively.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury withered, raising yields to 4.32% from Monday’s 4.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices jumped 82 cents to $77.74 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $27.40 to $2,005.50.