The benchmark indexes corrected last month due to multi-decade high inflation, geopolitical tensions, and the Fed’s decision to hike interest rates several times this year. Fortunately, the rapid economic recovery and stellar earnings reported by companies have been the key support for the markets over the past few weeks.
However, with the Labor Department set to release consumer price index data for January on Feb. 10, 2022, inflation is estimated to rise 7.2% year-over-year. If the inflation data meets the estimate, it will mark the fastest inflationary gain since February 1982, thus potentially driving further market volatility in the near term.
