Stocks Fall After PPI With Tariffs as Wild Card: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Another downside surprise in inflation brought a degree of relief to Wall Street, though stocks fell and bond yields rose with uncertainty running high around the potential economic impacts of a trade war.

Despite some attempts to snap up discounted shares, the S&P 500 hasn’t notched two straight days of gains since its February peak. With less than one week to go for the next Federal Reserve decision, investors bet officials will stay put until June or July as they evaluate the effects of sweeping tariffs on America’s largest trading partners. In another sign of an escalation, President Donald Trump threatened to enact a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages.

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US wholesale inflation stagnated in February thanks to a decline in services costs, but details for the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge were less favorable.

“Thursday’s inflation data is backward looking, and the real worry is the inflationary effects that may come from tariffs, which is a wild card for markets and the Federal Reserve,” said Paul Stanley at Granite Bay Wealth Management.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 slid 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3%. A gauge of tech megacaps lost 1.4%. Adobe Inc. sank on a disappointing outlook, while Intel Corp. surged after naming industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its next chief.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 4.35%. A dollar gauge added 0.2%.

Key events this week:

• US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 9:48 a.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
• The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed
• The MSCI World Index fell 0.4%
• Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.4%
• The Russell 2000 Index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
• The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0847
• The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2941
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 148.20 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 1.2% to $82,124.96
• Ether fell 0.8% to $1,877.13

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.35%
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.88%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.75%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $67.05 a barrel
• Spot gold rose 0.5% to $2,948.92 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Sujata Rao, Allegra Catelli, Chiranjivi Chakraborty and John Viljoen.

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