Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat: U.S. CPI in February may trigger a massive sell-off in U.S. stocks

According to a recent report by Fundstrat, a financial market research institution, the next major catalyst that could shake the U.S. stock market is the U.S. CPI data for February, which will be released on March 12. The data is expected to give investors an idea of whether the Fed will start cutting interest rates soon. Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, who previously made a very accurate forecast for the S&P 500 in 2023, said: "For us, this is also the decision point for the market in 2024. If the February CPI data is ‘hot’, even if it’s due to a statistical error, we think the market could become anxious. He stressed that some of the seasonal factors that drove the US CPI to beat expectations in January could carry over into February.