A surprisingly sharp rise in U.S. consumer prices in April, sent stock prices plummeting on Wall Street on Wednesday. The technology segment in particular is showing signs of a weak start to trading after the Nasdaq Composite delivered a strong showing the day before.
An inflation rate of 4.2 percent shocks investors and burdens consumers. In Germany, too, the price of heating oil and gasoline rose by more than 20 percent. This was the highest price increase since September 2008. Compared to March, the increase was 0.8 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, which are prone to volatility, prices actually rose 0.9 percent in April. According to official figures, this is the highest monthly price jump in almost 40 years.
Economists cited two reasons for the price jump. Because prices were pushed down by the crisis last year, the price increases are particularly high in percentage terms. The absolute prices for airline tickets or hotel accommodation, for example, which had risen by more than 10 percent in April, were still below the pre-crisis level.
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