US stocks plunge on mixed inflation signals
Wall Street resumed its retreat with a third straight session of losses today as declines in oil and gold prices did little to calm anxiety over higher interest rates and a slowing economy. The Dow Jones industrial average is now negative year-to-date for the first time in 2006.
Investors struggled to make sense of the Labour Department’s May producer price index, which showed a mild uptick in wholesale prices but a stronger-than-forecast rise in inflation without food or energy costs. The data suggested that energy costs did not grow as much as expected, but the higher core prices nonetheless kept the market on edge.
