Dow, S&P 500 fall on higher US inflation data

Wall Street stocks mostly fell Wednesday following US inflation data that further clouded the prospects for additional Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index rose to 3.0 percent in January from a year ago, above the 2.8 percent projected by economists, raising questions about whether the Fed's progress on bringing down prices was reversing.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a congressional panel that the figures reinforced the central bank's recent cautious approach to interest rate cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.5 percent at 44,368.56, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent at 6,051.97.