Soaring fuel, food, and housing prices pushed prices up 7.9% since las🅘t year, as inflation hit a new 40-year high.

In February alone, the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index jumped nearly one percent as Russia's attack on Ukraine pushed gasoline and grain prices higher. Gas prices spiked 6.6% in February and accounted for almost a third of the all items monthly increase, the department said in a . Gas hit a national average of $4.32 today, another record, according to AAA.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Core inflation, which excludes food and energy price𓃲s, rose 6.4% year-over-year, following a 6% jump reported in January.  

The Labor Department also reported in a separate that new claims for uneꩲmployment benefits rose by 11,000 to 227,000 last week, in line with economist estimates. 

Amazon to Split Stock 20-for-1

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) announced its first 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:stock split since the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:dotcom boom. Amazon shares were gaining nearly 4% this morning after the ecommerce and cloud computing giant announced its board approved a 20-for-1 stock split and said it was expanding its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:stock buyback progrꦉam to $10 billion. This is Amazon’s first stock split sin💞ce 1999. 

Although a stock split does not increase the value of Amazon’s shares, it will make it easier and generally cheaper for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:retail investors to buy shares, which are worth nearly $3,000 per share. If the stock were to split at its current level, each share would be worth about $140, and each shareholder would get an additional 19 shares for each share they own. The split will be effective at the close of business on May 27, following a shareholder vote at the company’s annual ꩵmeeting on May 25th.  

Amazon's announcement follows news last month that Google parent Alphabet would split its stock 20-for-1, effective on July 15. Apple split its stock 4-for-1 in 2020.

Another possible benefit for the stock splits for Amazon and Alphabet is that they could now be included in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dow Jones Industrial Average. Adding higher-priced shꦅares to the Dow is problematic since it is price-weighted, meaning the same percenta﷽ge move matters more for a higher-priced stock than a lower-priced stock. 

Amazon’s stock has lagged behind other big technology stocks. It's down 16% so far this year, and 9% lower over the past year.