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U.S. CPI Report Takes on Bigger Importance After Markets Plunge
Wednesday’s report on the U.S. consumer price index will be the most closely watched in recent memory, with investors seeking to understand the recent plunge in the stock and bond markets. They’ll probably need to look beyond the main numbers for the full story. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 1.7 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with 1.8 percent in December, according to the median projection of economists ahead of the Labor Department data. Viewed another way, though, inflation may be higher: A 0.2 percent monthly rise in the same index, as economists forecast, would result in ... (full story)