Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the tape this Thursday.
Producer prices came in hotter than expected in September, with wholesale inflation jumping six point three percent annually, the sharpest gain since two thousand twenty two. That's well above the consensus forecast of five point five percent, and it adds fresh pressure on the Fed as rate-cut expectations continue to get recalibrated by the bond market.
Shifting to geopolitics with direct market implications, Ukraine's access to military-grade Starlink services is being restored after a sudden disruption caught Kyiv off guard Wednesday. Defense ministry sources confirm Starshield operations are at least partially back online. The episode rattled confidence in critical defense infrastructure and puts renewed scrutiny on SpaceX's role as a wartime utility.
And in crypto, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan is making a bold macro argument, that bitcoin wins in either direction on AI. If the AI boom continues, crypto rides the liquidity wave. If the bubble bursts, Hougan expects government bailouts to follow, ultimately weakening fiat and driving investors toward hard assets like bitcoin. It's a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose pitch that's getting attention across digital asset desks.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
