Bonds & Stocks
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. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 slid 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.33%.
Economy
US wholesale inflation stagnated in February thanks to a decline in services costs, but details for the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge were less favorable. The producer price index was unchanged from a month earlier following a revised 0.6% increase in January, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday. Excluding food and energy, the PPI declined for the first time since July.
World
President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from France and elsewhere in the European Union, the latest escalation in a brewing transatlantic trade war.