Quest for Pricing Power Drives Stock Gains

Investors are on the hunt for companies with the magic words during any spell of inflation: pricing power.

With consumer prices rising at their fastest pace in 40 years and stocks wobbly over the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates, investors are putting a premium on firms whose customers will accept price increases, happily or otherwise. They are trawling through an unsettled market, with the S&P 500 down 7.8% to start 2022 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite off 15%.