NEW YORK, New York -- U.S. stocks tumbled Wednesday after the release of core CPI figures that showed inflation continuing to rage.
The core Cpi rose to 6.2 percent against projections of 6 percent.
Everyone wants energy and food and labor costs to come down, but at the same time our mechanism for doing it is to increase interest rates, Susan Schmidt, Aviva Investors' CEO, told CNBC on Wednesday.
You're working at countermeasures and it's worrisome for investors because they're trying to figure out how this affects business overall and that's why I think you've seen such whipsaw action in the major indices. The technology sector took the brunt of the assault on stocks. The Nasdaq Composite fell 373.44 points or 3.18 percent to 11,364. The Dow Jones industrials fell by 326.63 points or 1.02 percent to 33,834. The Standard and Poor's dropped 65.86 points, or 1.63 percent, to 3,935. The U.S. dollar was added to recent gains. After attempting another rally, the euro fell to 1.0518 around the New York close Wednesday.
The British pound fell to 1.2242. The Swiss franc was steady, but weaker, at 0.9940.
The Canadian dollar was up to 1.2997. The Australian dollar fell to 0.6934. The New Zealand dollar fell sharply to 0.6290.
The CAC 40 in Paris was 2.50 percent higher. The German Dax rose 2.17 percent. The FTSE 100 increased by 1.44 percent in London.
The Hang Seng jumped by 0.97 percent in Hong Kong. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.18 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries increased by 0.26 percent. In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 went up 0.03 percent. South Korea's Kospi Composite went against the trend, dipping 0.17 percent.