A selloff in stocks intensified Thursday as bond yields rose in the wake of data showing inflation reached a new four-decade high, raising the stakes on whether the Federal Reserve will plot a more aggressive path on interest rates.
The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all fell, while the yield on the all-important 10-year U.S. Treasury note breached 2% for the first time since 2019.
The moves followed new data showing inflation had accelerated to a 7.5% annual rate in January, topping economists’ forecasts and December’s 7% pace. Benchmarks briefly recouped their losses before sliding again, with the worst of the losses coming after remarks from a Fed official, signaling the central bank may move more drastically to curtail inflation.
The data injected fresh uncertainty into a market that had shown some signs of stabilizing: The S&P 500…
