{"id":59233,"date":"2026-02-27T15:09:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-slumps-as-sticky-inflation-data-dampens-rate-cut-hopes\/59233\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:09:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:09:45","slug":"dowjonestodaydow-jones-slumps-as-sticky-inflation-data-dampens-rate-cut-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-slumps-as-sticky-inflation-data-dampens-rate-cut-hopes\/59233\/","title":{"rendered":"[DowJonesToday]Dow Jones Slumps as Sticky Inflation Data Dampens Rate Cut Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/dowjones\/today.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average (<a href=\"\/stock\/%5EDJI\">^DJI<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>626.72 (-1.27%)<\/strong> points today, falling to <strong>48,872.48<\/strong>, while <strong>Dow Futures (<a href=\"\/stock\/YM=F\">YM=F<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>642.00 (-1.30%)<\/strong> as a surprisingly hot inflation report sent shockwaves through the equities market. The narrative driving today&#39;s session was the release of the <strong>January Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)<\/strong> price index, which indicated that inflation is cooling much slower than anticipated. This crucial data has forced traders to recalibrate their expectations for the <strong>Federal Reserve&#39;s<\/strong> interest rate path, with many now bracing for rates to remain elevated well into the second half of the year, potentially delaying any monetary easing.<\/p>\n<p>The financial sector suffered the most significant losses as recession fears and margin concerns resurfaced. <strong>Goldman Sachs (<a href=\"\/stock\/GS\">GS<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>7.56%<\/strong> to <strong>$859.19<\/strong>, followed closely by <strong>American Express (<a href=\"\/stock\/AXP\">AXP<\/a>)<\/strong>, which was down <strong>6.81%<\/strong> to <strong>$312.61<\/strong>. Other major players like <strong>JPMorgan Chase (<a href=\"\/stock\/JPM\">JPM<\/a>)<\/strong> were down <strong>3.16%<\/strong>, while tech leader <strong>Nvidia (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>3.27%<\/strong> to <strong>$178.83<\/strong>. These declines reflect a broader exit from cyclical and growth-oriented stocks as borrowing costs are projected to stay high, impacting long-term valuations.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, defensive and healthcare stocks provided a rare bright spot for the index. <strong>Merck (<a href=\"\/stock\/MRK\">MRK<\/a>)<\/strong> was up <strong>3.42%<\/strong> to <strong>$123.38<\/strong>, leading the gainers. <strong>Walmart (<a href=\"\/stock\/WMT\">WMT<\/a>)<\/strong> was up <strong>2.62%<\/strong> to <strong>$127.67<\/strong>, and <strong>UnitedHealth Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/UNH\">UNH<\/a>)<\/strong> was up <strong>2.15%<\/strong> to <strong>$292.95<\/strong>. Other notable gainers included <strong>Amgen (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMGN\">AMGN<\/a>)<\/strong>, up <strong>2.12%<\/strong>, and <strong>Verizon (<a href=\"\/stock\/VZ\">VZ<\/a>)<\/strong>, up <strong>1.87%<\/strong>. This shift underscores a flight to quality as investors seek refuge in companies with resilient earnings and strong dividends during periods of extreme economic volatility and market uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was down 626.72 (-1.27%) points today, falling to 48,872.48, while Dow Futures (YM=F) was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6803],"tags":[277,297,808,1067,3016,3710,3749,4350,9583],"class_list":["post-59233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summary-snippets","tag-wmt","tag-gs","tag-axp","tag-mrk","tag-dji","tag-federal-reserve","tag-pce","tag-dow-jones","tag-pce-inflation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}