{"id":73003,"date":"2026-10-14T10:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-tumble-as-inflation-miss-sparks-december-rate-hike-fears\/73003\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T10:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:08:22","slug":"markets-tumble-as-inflation-miss-sparks-december-rate-hike-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-tumble-as-inflation-miss-sparks-december-rate-hike-fears\/73003\/","title":{"rendered":"Markets Tumble as Inflation Miss Sparks December Rate Hike Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>U.S. Markets Reached Session Lows<\/strong> after a disappointing September CPI report showed headline inflation rising to <strong>3.6%<\/strong>, driven by a significant <strong>energy shock<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Netflix (<a href=\"\/stock\/NFLX\">NFLX<\/a>)<\/strong> announced it is cutting approximately <strong>1,000 jobs<\/strong>, or <strong>6% of its workforce<\/strong>, marking its largest round of layoffs since 2022.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Berkshire Hathaway (<a href=\"\/stock\/BRK.B\">BRK.B<\/a>)<\/strong> increased its stake in technology firm <strong>Bending Spoons (<a href=\"\/stock\/BSP\">BSP<\/a>)<\/strong> to <strong>4%<\/strong> via a <strong>$330 million<\/strong> private placement, sending the stock surging over <strong>50%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Traders are now betting on a more aggressive Federal Reserve<\/strong>, with Citigroup (<a href=\"\/stock\/C\">C<\/a>) and others forecasting a <strong>25bp to 50bp hike in December<\/strong> following the inflation data.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yemeni Houthi officials<\/strong> issued a direct warning to <strong>Saudi Aramco (<a href=\"\/stock\/2222.SR\">2222.SR<\/a>)<\/strong> shareholders to divest immediately, citing the oil giant&#39;s facilities as &quot;legitimate targets&quot; for upcoming strikes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Reaction to Inflation Data<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Nasdaq 100 (<a href=\"\/stock\/NDAQ\">NDAQ<\/a>)<\/strong> fell <strong>1%<\/strong> to hit its daily low on Wednesday morning following the release of the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Top White House economic adviser <strong>Kevin Hassett<\/strong> characterized the top-line inflation number as &quot;disappointing,&quot; noting that an <strong>energy shock<\/strong> is the primary driver of the current price pressure. The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> also opened in the red, down <strong>0.16%<\/strong> and <strong>0.46%<\/strong> respectively, as investors digested the implications for monetary policy.<\/p>\n<h2>Federal Reserve Outlook Shifts<\/h2>\n<p>Market expectations for the Federal Reserve&#39;s December meeting have shifted rapidly toward further tightening. <strong>Citigroup (<a href=\"\/stock\/C\">C<\/a>)<\/strong> updated its forecast to include a <strong>25bp rate hike in December<\/strong>, a reversal from its prior &quot;no change&quot; stance for the remainder of 2026. According to reports from <strong>CNBC<\/strong>, some traders are now betting the Fed may have to hike twice or implement a larger <strong>50bp increase<\/strong> to combat persistent price pressures.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate Developments: Netflix and Bending Spoons<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Netflix (<a href=\"\/stock\/NFLX\">NFLX<\/a>)<\/strong> is eliminating roughly <strong>6% of its global staff<\/strong> in a major restructuring effort reported by <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em>. The cuts, which impact approximately <strong>1,000 employees<\/strong>, are concentrated in the company&#39;s product, technology, legal, and human resources departments. This move comes as the streaming giant seeks to maintain discipline amid slowing growth and shifting viewer engagement metrics.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, <strong>Bending Spoons (<a href=\"\/stock\/BSP\">BSP<\/a>)<\/strong> saw its shares surge as much as <strong>52%<\/strong> following news of a <strong>$330 million<\/strong> investment from <strong>Berkshire Hathaway (<a href=\"\/stock\/BRK.B\">BRK.B<\/a>)<\/strong>. The investment, structured as a private placement of <strong>10 million shares at $33.00 each<\/strong>, brings Warren Buffett\u2019s conglomerate to a <strong>4% total ownership stake<\/strong> in the Milan-based technology company.<\/p>\n<h2>Geopolitical Risks and Global Trade<\/h2>\n<p>Tensions in the Middle East escalated as a <strong>Yemeni military official<\/strong> advised <strong>Saudi Aramco (<a href=\"\/stock\/2222.SR\">2222.SR<\/a>)<\/strong> shareholders to &quot;hand over their shares&quot; to avoid heavy losses. The warning follows Houthi threats to target Aramco&#39;s headquarters and refineries in retaliation for recent air strikes.<\/p>\n<p>In a significant shift for global commodities, <strong>Zambia<\/strong> has confirmed that <strong>China<\/strong> will begin paying for some copper shipments in <strong>Yuan (RMB)<\/strong>. This move represents a major step in the de-dollarization of African resource trade, as Zambia becomes the first nation on the continent to accept the Chinese currency for mining tax payments and trade settlements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways U.S. Markets Reached Session Lows after a disappointing September CPI report showed headline inflation rising to 3.6%, driven [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"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":[5012],"tags":[23149,58,1402,1767,3710,3712,4223,6065,7545,18449],"class_list":["post-73003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-2222-sr-3","tag-nflx","tag-bsp","tag-ndaq","tag-federal-reserve","tag-cpi","tag-inflation","tag-layoffs","tag-rmb","tag-brk-b-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73003","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=73003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}