Falling energy and gold prices, along with inflation worries, put pressure on Toronto stocks on Wednesday morning. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 90.38 points, or 0.94%, at 9,556.84.

Volume was 130 million shares.

U.S. consumer prices made a bigger-than-expected jump last, month, stoking more worries about inflation and interest rates.

The jump in inflation came a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the prospect of more aggressive interest rate increases in the future.

Eight of the TSX’s 10 main groups were in the red.

Energy stocks were 2.45% lower, dragged by U.S. crude oil prices that fell more than a dollar to as low as US$54.75 a barrel on a firmer U.S. dollar. The group could take more direction from the U.S. weekly inventory data expected later in the session.

Suncor eased $1.25, or 2.56%, to $47.55, while Encana slipped 86¢, or 1.05%, to $81.40.

The overall materials group was down 1.61%, as metal prices fell on interest rate concerns. The gold mining subgroup eased 0.78%.

Bema Gold fell 18¢, or 5.41%, to $3.15, while Barrick Gold was down 12¢, or 0.50%, to $23.94.

Among base-metal miners, Cameco was of $.268, or 4.73%, at $53.93, while Inco fell, $1.02, or 2.50%, to $39.72.

The heavily weighted financial group was down 0.43% on modest, but broad declines.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index was off 35.34 points, or 1.79%, at 1,937.99.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue-chip stocks were lower on Wednesday following the bigger-than-expected jump in consumer prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 12.12 points, or 0.12%, at 10,458.39. The S&P 500 was up 0.58 of a point at 1,172.29. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 2.85 points, or 0.14%, at 1,991.19.