Amna Nawaz:
Among the day's other headlines: The Labor Department's latest view of the U.S. economy raises fresh questions about how fast inflation is easing.
Consumer prices rose 3.1 percent in January from a year ago, smaller than the annual increase in December. But month-on-month, prices rose 3-tenths of a percent, slightly higher than in December. Analysts attributed the rise in prices of houses, rentals and hotel rooms.
On Wall Street, the inflation numbers raised fears that interest rates will remain higher for longer than expected. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 524 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 38,272. The Nasdaq fell 1.8 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent.
A winter storm affected schools, travel and flights across much of the Northeast today. Snow fell from New York City to Massachusetts, with parts of Pennsylvania getting 15 inches. The storm produced sustained winds of 60 mph and caused coastal flooding in some areas. Many government offices and schools were closed, and more than 1,000 flights were canceled.
The heads of the CIA and Israel's intelligence agencies discussed a possible ceasefire in Gaza today with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar. The session in Cairo comes as Israel threatens an all-out ground assault on Rafah, home to some 1.4 million Palestinians. Most of those refugees left today after the overnight shelling.
Israel said it was working on plans to move them, and US officials reiterated that they must be protected.