Why the March inflation report makes the Fed's job even harder

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Consumer prices rose 0.4% month-over-month in March, 3.5% from last year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report. Both prints were hotter than economists had been expecting. The report caused stock futures to plummet and, for many traders, take a June rate cut from the Federal Reserve off the table.

EY Chief Economist Greg Daco called the report "somewhat disappointing." However, he points out that some of the big increases came from things like auto insurance and medical services, areas that the Fed has less control over. "There's no denying that this firmer inflation print does put more pressure on policymakers to sustain, likely, a higher-for-longer type of monetary policy stance," Daco says. He also notes "The first two months of the year were extremely noisy. We have to be careful not to factor that in too much, just like we should not have factored in too much the very rapid disinflation that we had at the end of last year."

Crossmark Global Investments Chief Market Strategist Victoria Fernandez says the report is "basically telling the Federal Reserve they are not getting that consistent, downward movement towards 2% that they want to see" and that it will put pressure on the Fed to "keep rates at an elevated level."

Watch the video above to hear how Fernandez is advising clients to play the markets now.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.