Catenaa, Thursday, August 14, 2025- US stocks fell on Thursday as Wall Street digested a much hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index in July inflation, waning hopes of a September rate cut.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%, while the benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1%.
Tech stocks such as AMD were down by over 1% while Nvidia was barely up by 0.2% and Meta was down by 0.1%.
July’s Producer Price Index (PPI) came in much hotter than expected, with prices rising 0.9% compared to expectations of 0.2%. On an annual basis, prices rose 3.3%, the most since February. “Core” producer prices, which strip out the cost of food and energy, saw the largest increase in three years.
The inflation shock looked set to sap the enthusiasm of a roaring market this week.
Stocks extended their rally on Wednesday, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to consecutive record highs. Bitcoin got a boost from mounting rate-cut bets, too, reaching a new record high Wednesday evening before scaling back on those gains.
Euphoria over a possible September rate cut had swept Wall Street over the past two sessions after July’s Consumer Price Index report showed inflation rose as expected, but not dramatically.
Traders had fully priced in a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting, even as some Fed policymakers continue to urge patience. On Thursday morning, investors had once again shifted some bets to a rate hold next month.
Friday’s release of July’s retail sales numbers will be this week’s final economic data point.
