Data collected by the Labor Department in March showed prices rising across a broad range of sectors, including energy, food, travel and lodging, medical care and tuition. There's no doubt investors will be closely watching the government's next reading of the Consumer Price Index, due next Friday.
If rates were the only concern, the current situation might not seem so gloomy to investors. But there are a multitude of other factors contributing to the market's unease, including uncertainty over the situation in Iraq, concerns about global events, the potential for terrorist attacks and the upcoming presidential race.
"Let's face it, this is a market, an economy, that is coming from out of the cellar. We're just starting to emerge ... and there are still a lot of unknowns," said Chris Johnson, manager of quantitative analysis at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.
Inflationary pressures and the prospect of higher rates send a message, Johnson said, which some investors have interpreted as a warning: The bad old days might not be so far behind us.
For the week, the Dow Jones industrials lost 108.23, or 1.1 percent, closing at 10,117.34.
The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.19, or 0.1 percent, during the week, to finish at 1,917.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 8.60, or 0.8 percent, for a weekly close of 1,098.70.
The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, fell 11.24, or 2 percent, to end the week at 548.56.
And the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, which tracks more than 5,000 US-based companies, ended the week at 10,686.04 off 107.62 points from the previous week. A year ago the index was 8,883.34.
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