Traders will be mulling over North American inflation reports when markets open Wednesday. The U.S. consumer price index for February showed a stronger than expected rise just one day after the Federal Reserve indicated a greater concern with inflation.

The consumer-price index rose 0.4% last month, four times the rate in January, the Labor Department. The core index, which excludes volatile food and energy items, also climbed sharply — by 0.3%, the fastest rate since September.

Overall consumer prices were up 3% in the year through February, but excluding food and energy items, prices were up 2.4%, the fastest rate since August 2002.

Both readings were higher than economists had forecast.

Here at home, the 12-month increase in the consumer price index was up to 2.1% in February from 2.0% in January, Statistics Canada said today.

The increase was in line with economists expectations.

The core rate of inflation rose by 1.8% year-over-year. That’s still below the Bank of Canada’s 2% target rate.

Separately, the government agency said the composite index of leading indicators was unchanged in February, after advances of 0.1% in December and January.

North American stock markets ended sharply lower Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled that inflationary pressures had picked up in recent months. The S&P/TSX composite index lost 46.33 points, or 0.48%, to close at 9,647.22.

North American markets had been ahead on the day when the Fed came out with its mid-afternoon announcement that its key lending rate would rise by a quarter of a percentage point.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 5.44 points, or 0.27%, to end at 1,973.33.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial average ended the trading day down 94.88 points at 10470.51 – its lowest close in almost two months.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index also lost steam, shedding 18.17 points, or 0.91%, to close at 1989.34 — its first close below 2000 since Nov. 2, 2004.

The S&P 500 fell 12.07 points, or 1.02%, to close at 1,171.71.