- The Geithner Affect On Markets
- What Citi Is Doing
- Why This Was A Different Sell-Off
- Trader Voices Growing: Break Up Citi
- Trouble With Stocks: Lost Identity
- The Doomsday Scenario For Automakers
- Money Manager Peter Schiff Had It Right In 2006
- Traders Expecting Market Rise At Today's End
- Why There's No Market Rally
- Guidance Is Now A Tricky Business
- Out with Cox, in with Uptick Rule
- Pops & Drops: Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan & Air Wagoner
- Mad Money Green Week: Owens Corning
- Fast & Furious: It's All About Soup
- Web Extra: The Trade on Walmart and RIMM
- Chartology: Grossly Oversold and Favoring the Upside
- The "Armageddon" Gameplan
- What's Next for Citigroup?
- What to Expect From a Geithner-led Treasury
- Soros: More Money Needed For U.S. Bailout
- HP Earnings: How Much Will "Hurt" From Economy?
- Obama Warns On Economy: Works On Stimulus Plan
- Citigroup's Ills May Signal Market Isn't Near Bottom
- US Inflation Bonds Hit by Deflation, May Recover
- Pros Say: Market Will Drop 5-10% — Ford Will Boom
- Bonds Drop on Profit-Taking, Geithner Move
- Jack Welch on Detroit: Let Them Go Bankrupt
- Bank Shareholders Face 'the Unthinkable': El-Erian

Futures were already down on the poor mortgage news (both purchases and refinancings were below expectations, and 30-year mortgage rates are now over 6 percent). They dropped again at 8:30 AM when core CPI came in at 0.3 percent in January, the biggest increase since June 2006.
This is not welcome news, as Tony Crescenzi points out, since what the market needs now is low rates to help the housing market and inflation worries will work against that.
related content |
Then we have the commodity problem. Good news for commodity stocks, bad news for consumers. Natural gas, for example, sitting right at two-year highs, up again today.
Add to this the news from last week that the price of imported goods from China was actually rising, and you have inflation back as an issue. All this will show up in February inflation numbers, which won't be pretty on headline basis.
Questions? Comments?


