S&P 500 plunges as CPI jumps

US stocks plunged on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling 2.1 percent.

Asian markets also fell sharply. The Taiwan Stock Exchange sank 4.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.6 percent.

However, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.3 percent.

The US stock market was spooked by a report that showed that the consumer price index jumped 4.2 percent in April from a year ago and 0.8 percent from the previous month. Core CPI increased 3 percent from the previous year and 0.9 percent from the previous month.

“Investors who may have been looking for a reason to lighten up on a stock market that was up more than 10% year to date found a good one: rising inflation,” Chris Hussey, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, said in a note.