U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Friday after hotter-than-expected inflation data from the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.2%, soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 slid 1.3% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6%, according to FactSet data, at last check. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday that the personal-consumption-expenditures-price index rose 0.6% in January for a year-over-year rate of 5.4%. Core PCE prices, which exclude food and energy, also increased 0.6% in January, rising 4.7% from a year ago. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast that PCE prices would rise 0.5% in January and 4.4% year over year.
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