Equity markets wavered on Wednesday following some stronger-than-expected inflation data and hawkish commentary from the FOMC. On the inflation front, the PPI index advanced at a 0.4% month-over-month pace to double the expectations and leave the YOY figure up 8.5% from last year and at record levels. In regard to the FOMC, the Fed released the minutes from the last meeting and reinforced the idea that interest rates will move higher and stay higher for the foreseeable future.

Today's big news will be the CPI index which is expected to cool a bit from last month. The takeaway from the PPI report, however, is that producer-level inflation is still running hot and underpinning gains in consumer-level inflation. In this scenario, the CPI may cool versus last month but it should be expected to remain high and/or accelerate over the next few months to half a year.