Another hotter-than-expected reading on inflation sent stocks sharply lower early Friday. An encouraging update on consumer sentiment helped indexes swing higher mid-morning, but the positive price action was short-lived.
Ahead of the opening bell, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the January Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures what businesses are paying suppliers for goods, was up 0.3% month-over-month, higher than the 0.1% increase economists were expecting. On a year-over-year basis, headline PPI rose 0.9%.
