Stocks sank lower on Wednesday after a hotter-than-expected inflation report dampened market sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 400 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite fell about 1% and 0.8%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.95% or -49.40 points to 5,160.52

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -1.09% or -422.69 points to 38,460.98

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.84% or -136.28 points to 16,170.36

Moving Markets:

March's consumer price index rose at a fast-than-expected rate, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, effectively crushing investor optimism that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in June. Headline CPI rose 0.4% month-to-month and 3.5% annually, both topping economist estimates.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core CPI rose 0.4% over February and 3.8% from a year ago, aslo beating expectations.

Zoom In:

Fed policymakers at their March meeting signaled they need more time to access the health of the U.S. economy in regards to persistently high inflation, but still expected to begin cutting interest rates some time this year, according to the meeting minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's most recent meeting. The Fed's current target benchmark interest rate is between 5.25% and 5.50%.

"Participants generally noted their uncertainty about the persistence of high inflation and expressed the view that recent data had not increased their confidence that inflation was moving sustainably down to 2 percent," the minuted said.

"Some participants noted that the recent increases in inflation had been relatively broad based and therefore should not be discounted as merely statistical aberrations," the minutes added.

On the Earnings Front:

Delta Air Lines (DAL  ) shares rose on Wednesday after the carrier posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and reiterated its full-year earnings forecast. The company also expects strong fiscal second-quarter earnings of $2.20 to $2.50 per share, with full-year guidance standing at $6 to $7 per share with free cash flow of between $3 billion and $4 billion.

"Growth is normalizing and we are in a period of optimization, with a focus on restoring our most profitable core hubs and delivering efficiency gains," CFO Dan Janki said in an earnings release.

For Thursday:

Market participants will react to another inflation reading for producer prices for March, as well as a series of Fedspeak throughout the session. Thursday's second-quarter earnings season will also see results from companies including Constellation Brands (STZ  ) and CarMax (KMX  ).