Good morning, you're tuned in to Markets Desk.
Producer prices in April surged one point four percent, well above consensus, following Tuesday's softer-than-expected consumer inflation print. The divergence matters — when input costs climb faster than consumer prices, it compresses margins downstream, and that puts the Fed in a difficult position heading into its next policy window.
On the earnings front, this season is delivering a clear theme: companies combining soaring revenue with expanding profit margins are being rewarded handsomely. AI-oriented hardware makers are leading that list inside the S&P five hundred, but the breadth of winners is wider than many expected, suggesting the productivity story is moving beyond pure-play tech.
And in the AI competitive landscape, Anthropic has crossed a meaningful threshold, overtaking OpenAI in enterprise spending according to Ramp's AI Index. The driver is Claude Code adoption accelerating sharply among business customers. This lands at a complicated moment for OpenAI, which is simultaneously managing a public legal dispute with Elon Musk, with Sam Altman's team now pushing back hard on what they call unsubstantiated allegations from Musk's legal counsel in court.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
