Surprising inflation numbers led to an equity market sell-off last week resulting in the S&P’s first decline in five weeks. The January Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at an annual rate of 3.1%, which was higher than economists’ expectations of 2.9%. This was followed later in the week by the Producer Price Index (PPI), which also exceeded analysts’ estimates with a reading of 0.3% for January, the highest level in five months. These higher inflationary readings have the markets concerned the Federal Reserve will not have rationale to lower rates any time soon.