Financial markets were surprised by the U.S. annual inflation rate rising to a fresh 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June, topping the market estimate of 8.8 percent.
The broad-based consumer price index (CPI) sent the leading benchmark indexes lower with greater expectations that the United States will slip into a recession and the Federal Reserve may accelerate its tightening efforts this month.
Wall Street and public policymakers are now discussing if inflation has peaked. The White House thinks that it has, writing in a memo Tuesday, that energy prices have come down significantly since the last CPI report. Crude oil prices have dropped 20 percent, while gas has tumbled roughly 7 percent….