Wall Street slump on hot inflation drags ASX lower; Anthropic targets $1.4 trillion IPO

US stocks fell sharply after a report showed inflation was worse than expected last month, with the S&P 500 down 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq 1.3 percent lower. The Australian sharemarket is set to decline at the open, with futures pointing to a fall of 61 points. The disappointing inflation data could push the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates more aggressively, with one official suggesting a half-point increase may be needed. Treasury yields jumped to 5.02 percent, pressuring stocks, while homebuilders and AI-related companies like Nvidia fell sharply. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, is targeting a valuation of roughly $US1.4 trillion in its IPO filing, which would make it more valuable than Walmart or JPMorgan. Global markets were mixed, with South Korea's Kospi jumping 4.4 percent on tech strength.