The Dow Jones Industrials sank 208.54 points to 30,772.79.
The S&P 500 lost 17.02 points to 3,801.78.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 17.15 points to 11,227.53.
Consumer discretionary rose 0.9%, boosted by gains from Domino’s Pizza, Bath & Body Works and Tesla, while Boeing, Walgreens and UnitedHealth slid 2% each, dragging the Dow into negative territory.
Battered tech shares Amazon, Netflix and Tesla staged a comeback on Wednesday, rising more than 1% each despite mounting growth concerns.
The move briefly brought the tech-heavy NASDAQ into positive territory. Twitter’s stock rose 8% as the social media company sued Elon Musk.
Along with the inflation report, investors continued to monitor second-quarter earnings for clues into the health of U.S. companies. Delta Air Lines shares dropped 6.3% after posting mixed results.
Amid the news, United backtracked 1% and American Airlines dipped about 3%. Struggling cruise stocks Royal Caribbean and Carnival each fell more than 1%.
The consumer price index rose 9.1% on a year-over-year basis in June, coming in even higher than May’s 8.6% reading, which was the biggest increase since 1981. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones’ had anticipated an 8.8% print.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, came in at 5.9% and above the 5.7% estimate.
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to 2.91% from Tuesday’s 2.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices nosed 11 cents to $95.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained 11 cents to $1,731.20 U.S. an ounce.