Welcome to The Hill's Business & Economy newsletter {beacon} Business & Economy Business & Economy   The Big Story  Stocks plummet after hot inflation report St ocks ended the week with steep losses after new federal data showed prices rising faster than expected, reigniting inflation fears on Wall Street. © AP Photo/Seth Wenig The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 715 points on the day, falling 1.7 percent. The Nasdaq composite lost 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 index fell 2 percent. The stock slide began shortly after the Commerce Department released data showing an unexpectedly steep increase in consumer prices. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 2.5 percent over the past year, but 2.8 percent without food and energy prices included. On a monthly basis, the PCE index advanced by 0.3 percent while core PCE increased by 0.4 percent. "We are moving in the wrong direction and the concern is that tariffs threaten higher prices, which mean the inflation prints are going to remain hot. This will constrain the Fed’s ability to deliver further interest rate cuts," said James Knightley, chief international economist at AIG, in a Friday analysis. Read the full report at TheHill.com.   Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter, I'm Aris Folley — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond:   FCC chair launches investigation into Disney over DEI The hits keep coming for The Walt Disney Co. — and not in the way that the media empire would probably prefer.  Full Story   NYPD investigating hate crime criminal mischief incident involving Tesla vandalism The New York Police Department (NYPD) is investigating a Thursday vandalism incident involving a Tesla after receiving multiple images and footage from the vehicle’s self-recording features of two men etching words onto the side of the car.  Full Story   No longer Sour Patch Kids, company says An iconic candy brand says it has a new name.  Full Story   Tax Watch  Finance Committee Republicans split over number of tax cut vehicles Welcome to Tax Watch, a new feature focused on the fight over tax reform and the push to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts this year.   Senate Finance Committee member Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Hill this week he thought the expiring provisions of the 2017 tax cuts should be split off from additional tax changes that Republicans could make in their major tax cut and spending bill. His argument was that extending the expiring laws was a unanimous priority for the party while there’s more room for debate in additional revenue provisions that could be tacked on, such as cuts that President Trump promised while campaigning. Other Finance Committee Republicans disagree. “I think if you split it off, [further cuts] will never get consideration,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Hill. “You get one shot at this every ten years. You’d better do everything.” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said that two different tax packages were not being considered. He expressed some doubts that the House was going to get behind the so-called “policy baseline” accounting assumption that’s popular in the Senate and that would allow Republicans to write off the $4 to $5 trillion cost of extending the expiring tax laws. “We’re bound by the Byrd Rule in the Senate, and the House is unbounded by that,” he said, referring to a Senate rule that requires reconciliation bills to have a material effect on budgets, which the policy baseline write-off could violate. — Tobias Burns   COMING UP The Hill's Evening Report breaks down the day's big political stories and looks ahead to tomorrow. Click here to sign up & get it in your inbox     The Ticker  Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: Next week, the Labor Department will release the monthly employment report for March.   In Other News  Branch out with more stories from the day: Wall Street tumbles, and S&P 500 drops 2% on worries about slower economy and higher inflation NEW YORK (AP) — Another wipeout walloped Wall Street Friday. Worries are building about a potentially … Full Story   Good to Know  Business and economic news we've flagged from other outlets: Canadians pull back on U.S. trips, threatening to widen United States’ $50 billion travel deficit (CNBC) Fired Democratic FTC commissioners are suing Trump (CNN) EU Plans Concessions for Trump After Reciprocal Tariffs Hit (Bloomberg)   What Others are Reading  Top stories on The Hill right now: Vance in Greenland: ‘We do not think military force is ever going to be necessary’ Vice President Vance in a speech from a U.S. base in Greenland said Friday the U.S. is not likely to use military force in President Trump’s pursuit of taking over the territory. Read more Judge blocks Trump administration from dismantling CFPB A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from effectively dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an early target of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Read more     You're all caught up. See you next week!  Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Business and Economy newsletter Subscribe ...read more read less