U.S. stocks fall as inflation jitters rise

STORY: Wall Street resumed its decline on Thursday, a day after its best session in months, closing lower following new data that showed U.S. consumer inflation had hit a four-decade high, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise key interest rates at its meeting next week to prevent the economy from overheating.

Kevin Nicholson is chief investment officer for RiverFront Investment Group Global Fixed Income.

"The market is being really moved on the CPI number. Up until this point, the equity markets have been focused on what is going on with the Ukraine-Russian war. However, now that we're getting closer to Fed's meeting coming up on March 16th, the market is more focused on what inflation impact is going to occur in the coming months."

All three major indexes ended in the red, but bounced off session lows.

The Dow finished -0.34% and the S&P 500 closed -0.43%, while the Nasdaq ended -0.95%.

Tech shares suffered the biggest percentage drop, while energy stocks were back on top on Thursday, as world oil supply pressures continued to weigh on global markets and peace talks in Ukraine showed little progress.

Goldman Sachs lost ground after announcing it would become the first major U.S. investment bank to close its operations in Russia.

Amazon was the exception amid tech's Thursday rout, with shares finishing up more than 5% after the e-commerce giant announced a 20-for-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback.