Wall Street drops as bank earnings disappoint, producer prices surge

JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley report profit miss; PPI surges more than expected in June; Conagra Brands falls on downbeat forecast

US stock indexes fell on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley kicked off quarterly earnings on a sour note, while a surge in producer prices fed into concerns about bigger rate increases by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation.

Investors have turned increasingly nervous that the Fed's efforts to tackle soaring prices with aggressive interest rate increases could tip the economy into a recession. Data on Wednesday showed U.S. consumer prices hit fresh 40-year highs in June, adding to bets of a big move on rates by the U.S. central bank later this month.

A Labor Department report on Thursday showed