These losses may reflect the fact that consumers facing higher energy prices and falling real [inflation-adjusted] wages are cutting back on discretionary spending.

[They also focus on two areas - healthcare and energy - where inflation is eating away at spending power.] You either need wages to pick up or inflation to slow down, ... There may be a bit of both in coming months.

Inflation is down to 1.4% excluding energy, so there's absolutely no inflation pressure.

As we went into December and energy was in that hyper-inflation stage, we looked at measures to cut down the costs.

have been beating the drums about worrying about higher inflation, and so far, other than energy, we haven't had higher inflation. (But) I would say earnings are doing quite well, so I think that's helped to keep the market from having another bad week.

The Fed is keeping an eye on core inflation because they were concerned about prices spilling over from energy and commodities to the rest of the economy. This increases the odds that interest rate increases can remain measured, a quarter-point at a time.