Wall Street Ends Mixed After Wild Ride

(RTTNews) - After showing considerable strength in the previous session, stocks were on a volatile ride Tuesday that saw them finish on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The Dow slumped 162.12 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 34,083, while the NASDAQ advanced 70.99 points or 0.60 percent to close at 11,962.78 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.96 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,136.33.

The volatility on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data, which could have a significant effect on the Federal Reserve's strategy regarding interest rate hikes.

The Labor Department's report showed that U.S. consumer prices increased in line with estimates in January, probably dashing hopes that the Federal Reserve might further ease the pace of its interest rate hikes.

The report said the consumer price index climbed by 0.5 percent in January following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in December. Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.5 percent after the 0.1 percent dip in the previous month.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in January, matching a revised increase in December as well as economist estimates.

The Labor Department also said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices slowed slightly less than expected.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday afternoon, dropping after the release of the U.S. inflation data before coming up off daily lows. West Texas Intermediate was down $1.01 or 1.26 percent to $79.13 per barrel, coming off a low of $77.46 earlier in the day.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region were mixed during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index added by 0.64 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged down by 0.24 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also were mixed on the day. The French CAC 40 Index perked 0.07 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.08 percent and the German DAX Index slipped by 0.11 percent.