Stocks end lower as Wall Street braces for big hike in rates

Stocks ended another shaky day lower on Wall Street Wednesday after a highly anticipated report on inflation turned out to be even worse than expected. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% after tumbling as much as 1.6% earlier. The Nasdaq slipped 0.2% to erase nearly all of an early loss of 2.1%. Stocks took a few U-turns through the day, as has become the norm on Wall Street this tumultuous year. They were following the lead of Treasury yields in the bond market, which initially surged on expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates drastically to slow the nation’s skyrocketing inflation.