Equities tumbled late yesterday, and they’re re-tumbling early today.
Gold, silver, and oil are all joining in the selloff, as are Treasuries. The dollar is higher.
Yesterday’s faceplant was fueled by a January Producer Price Index (PPI) report showing wholesale inflation up 0.7% MOM and 6% YOY. That wasn’t good, and it comes on the heels of consumer inflation data that keeps the Federal Reserve firmly in play for a couple more interest rate hikes.
In fact, a couple of Fed speakers said yesterday that they’d be willing to re-accelerate to 50-basis point hikes from 25-point moves if the inflation numbers stay too strong. The last hike in February pushed rates up 25 points to a range of 4.5%-4.75%.
After pushing toward $25,000, Bitcoin was giving back some gains today. Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency world, the “pioneer” Do Kwon, developer of the ill-fated TerraUSD stablecoin and sister token Luna, has been accused of securities fraud by the SEC. His whereabouts are unknown, but authorities will be trying to track him down.
Finally, Americans just managed to set a new record...but it wasn’t for anything good like Olympic gold medals or number of inventions. It was for credit card debt outstanding! Card balances jumped to $986 billion in Q4 2022, pushing us past the previous of $927 billion in Q4 2019, according to the New York Fed.
