Large-cap stocks are getting knocked around in early trading Thursday, with shares of companies as varied as internet search titan Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), shipping giant United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), and video streamer Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) all dipping into the red. As of 10 a.m. ET, Alphabet is trading 1.9% below yesterday's close, UPS is off 2.2%, and Netflix is down by 4.6%.

And the Federal Reserve is probably to blame.

As recently as last week, stocks were rallying on the good news that inflation rates were "only" 7.7% in October. Granted, 7.7% is still a pretty high number, but stock market analysts had expected the figure to be even higher, and they interpreted the more moderate inflation as a sign that the Federal Reserve might slow its pace of interest rate hikes, or begin raising interest rates in smaller increments, or -- dare we hope? -- both.

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Source Fool.com