Surprise in CPI Data Sends Stocks Tumbling

Stocks and bonds are plunging in early trading after a surprisingly large increase in the

Consumer Price Index

.

The April CPI rose 0.7% overall and 0.4% excluding volatile food and energy prices -- both figures were way ahead of expectations. The 30-year Treasury bond lurched sharply downward as soon as the numbers came out at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and it lately was down 1 23/32 to 91 8/32. The yield shot up to 5.88%, the highest level in nearly a year.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was down 105 to 11,002, the

S&P 500

was down 18 to 1350, the

Nasdaq Composite Index

was down 46 to 2536, the

Russell 2000

was down 6 to 445 and

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was down 14 to 628.

Most Up at Open -- NYSE

Case (CSE) , up 1 11/16 to 44 1/2

: Case was rising on news of a possible merger with

New Holland

(NH) - Get Report

.

Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq

@Home (ATHM) - Get Report, up 2 3/4 to 152 1/16

: The company formed an alliance with

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

to speed the launch of high-speed Web services.

Most Down at Open -- NYSE

Charles Schwab (SCH) , down 5 15/16 to 111 1/16

.

Most Down at Open -- Nasdaq

Net.B@nk (NTBK) , down 6 1/8 to 181 1/8

.