Dow finishes up 250 points in spite of inflation fears

The Dow opened down by triple digits today following the release of the much-anticipated Consumer Price Index report, which showed prices rose 1.7% from a year ago against analyst forecasts of 1.5%. It finished the day up 253 points, or about 1%.

Why it matters: Coupled with last week's news of increased wage growth—which caused all three major U.S. stock indexes to finish the five-day trading period down 5%, per CNBC—investors fear inflation will cause the Federal Reserve to hike up interest rates.