Hot US PPI Sends Stocks Lower, Stagflation Fears Return

January’s PPI (Producer Price Index) printed +2.9% year-over-year (YoY) against a +2.6% forecast, with core PPI surging +3.6% versus +3.0% expected, sending US equities lower and reviving stagflation talk across crypto and macro communities.

The Producer Price Index measures wholesale-level inflation. This is what businesses pay before costs pass through to consumers, making it a leading signal for Federal Reserve (Fed) policy decisions.

Why it matters:

• Services prices drove the core beat, with month-over-month core PPI rising +0.8% against a +0.3% forecast, more than double expectations.
• The S&P 500 fell -0.87%, the Dow Jones dropped -1.38%, and the Nasdaq slid -1.09% following the release, reflecting immediate repricing of rate-cut expectations.
• A hotter-than-expected PPI reduces the probability of near-term Fed cuts, lifting yields and pressuring risk assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.
• Rising producer costs alongside slowing GDP growth creates a stagflation scenario where the Fed cannot cut without reigniting inflation or hold without slowing the economy further.

The details:

• Headline PPI came in at +2.9% YoY (prior: +3.0%); core PPI at +3.6% YoY (prior: +3.3%), per data released February 27 at 8:30 AM ET.
• Month-over-month: headline +0.5% (exp. +0.3%), core +0.8% (exp. +0.3%), driven by a services component surge.
• Trade services margins climbed +2.5% as a primary driver of the core beat.
• S&P 500 futures were already down 57 points before the data hit, signaling broader stress beyond the PPI print alone.
• The upside came from trade-services normalization, not from broad input-cost acceleration.

The big picture:

• Analysts like Crypto Rover and Max Crypto flag a stagflation signal: core PPI rising while GDP cools. This combination often limits central bank flexibility.
• The Fed’s rate-cut timeline faces further pressure as back-to-back inflation beats challenge the disinflation trend heading into March.