Oil Price Surge Fuels Inflation Worries Ahead of Key Reports

Oil prices continued their upward trend on Tuesday, causing concern for Wall Street as investors worry about the impact of high inflation. The price of Brent crude rose 0.6% to $97.54 after briefly reaching a high of $99.46.

This increase in oil prices has exacerbated concerns about inflation, which is already above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%. On Thursday, the US government will release its August report on wholesale inflation, expected to show an acceleration to 5.4% from July's 4.7%.

The more closely watched consumer price index report will be released on Friday and is expected to show a slight decrease in inflation rate to 3.3% from July's 3.4%. However, this remains above the Fed's target rate.