Stock Market Today: Dow Futures Slip After Wholesale Inflation Accelerates

Wall Street Journal
Aug. 14, 2025 at 8:50 AM ET

Stock futures slipped after new data showed factory-gate inflation picking up, introducing fresh question marks over coming interest-rate cuts.

The producer-price index showed prices rose by a much stronger-than-expected 0.9% in July.

A day earlier, futures markets suggested investors were highly confident the Federal Reserve would cut rates in September, after Tuesday’s reassuring consumer-price index. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had talked up a larger, 0.5 percentage-point cut.

But traders moved early Thursday to pare bets on a September cut slightly, CME Group data showed.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who favors lowering rates next month, pushed back against the need for a jumbo cut. "I'm worried it would send off an urgency signal that I don't feel about the strength of the labor market," she said.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee also signaled caution late Wednesday, flagging a jump in some services prices in the CPI report, and saying the labor market remained solid.

Meanwhile, President Trump said he was down to three or four candidates to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell and said he was likely to make a nomination "a little bit early."

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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Make a note that none of this matters any more. The economy is now out of the hands of all Americams. Even the Billionaires. If Trump allows the market to operate interest rates with rise and the grandaddy of all recessions will follow... If he tries to force interest rates down, hyperinflation from outside the country will follow. Of course, he might abandon the $US completely and try to launch he own crypto currency instead, setting himself up as the bank and the richest man in America.. I can hardly wait to see what happens..😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman
Being the richest man in America doesn't mean much when all the money he will end up with will be deemed stolen property.

Make him King for a day maybe? Perhaps he gets nominated for Honorary Employee of the Month at all McDonald's locations for 30 days across America?

Apart from any of that, there isn't much incentive for anyone to become the richest person in America these days, especially when China controls the value of the US dollars that Americans have in their savings account.

Now that I think about it more deeply, it suddenly occurred to me that the richest man in America actually lives in China, not the USA! 🤣

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@swirlie Some say it might be Putin. But we will never know if it is.. There comes a point with money when adding more numbers becomes meaningless. And from what I have seen, those people arent happier. They are looking over their shoulders all the time..😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman
I know exactly what you mean... money only brings happiness when we're broke, but when we're flush, more money is like having more food plopped onto our plate by an over-zealous grandmother when we're already full.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@swirlie For most people there is a number... "Enough"..Even Warren Buffett admits its not about money for him.. its always been about "the game". I have enough for me...😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman
That's actually a very true analogy about it being about "the game", not the money.

I think that to keep chasing the dollar and never learning about "the game" behind the dollar after reaching financial solvency in one's own affairs, it is a sign that one is technically losing at the game of life, not winning, because they've never learned about "the game" itself.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@swirlie Or in the case of someone like Trump, chasing the appearance of wealth is compensating for a deep inferiority complex, maybe due to his unbringing. But in his case who cares?😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman

I read a biography about Donald's father, the Late Fred Trump who tried to give Donald up for adoption several times because Donald was so impossible to deal with.

Donald was diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) when he was an adolescent, but only after getting kicked out of the US Military Academy which is basically the equivalent of 'Reform School' for unruly adolescent children.

Fred Trump was a piece of work himself, so it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Donald was either following in Dad's footsteps, or that Donald was genetically disadvantaged by his father's DNA.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@swirlie Or both.. And now he is running the country.. Oh well.. Thats Americans for you..😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman

Yes, America is now being run like a corporate business, just like Donald wanted to do. Trump Atlantic City Casino comes to mind.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@swirlie Trump University??😷

swirlie · 31-35

@whowasthatmaskedman
🫣