New Inflation Data Hammered the Dow Friday

Heading into Friday, investors knew that highly anticipated inflation data could make or break the market today. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sunk 880 points after new data for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that consumer prices kept moving higher in the month of May. The CPI tracks a basket of daily goods and services and is one piece of data that investors use to measure inflation.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data this morning that showed the CPI rose 8.6% on a year-over-year basis, which came in higher than economists' 8.3% estimate. In April, the CPI was up only 8.3% year over year, which is high, but lower than the 8.5% figure seen in March. Many investors assumed that inflation might have peaked, but this latest data casts doubt on the narrative.

Source Fool.com