Stocks sink as inflation fears rise

Stocks sank after a hotter-than-expected producer price index reading as well as a higher inflation forecast from the Fed amid rising energy prices.

Your Evening Briefing March 18, 2026 🤏 Our anonymous, three-minute audience survey lets us understand what topics matter most to you, so we can cover what you care about. Take the survey here. Stocks sink as inflation fears rise The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all sank as traders were rattled by geopolitical concerns and inflation fears, as February's producer price index came in well above estimates. The Federal Reserve held its policy rate unchanged at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, as was universally expected. Fed officials upped their forecast for growth in this year and the next relative to December and raised their forecasts for inflation (particularly headline inflation, which includes energy prices) in 2026. Stronger growth and inflation would generally indicate a reduced need for rate cuts, but the median rate path through 2028 was unchanged from December. All sectors ended the day in the red. Cryptocurrencies generally traded lower after the SEC and CFTC issued new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets. Stocks that moved higher: AI drone company Swarmer skyrocketed on its IPO debut. Constellation Energy, Talen Energy, and NRG surged as BNP analysts see a "golden (AI)ge" ahead for them. Optics stocks Applied Optoelectronics, Lumentum, and Coherent soared as executives signaled more AI-related demand. Macy's jumped after reporting that adjusted EPS beat estimates by 8%. Chinese tech giant Baidu ticked higher after hiking AI prices. DocuSign rose after its Q4 revenue and EPS beat expectations and announcing a $2 billion increase in its share buyback program. Stocks that moved lower: Gemini Space Station sank after the stocks was cut to sell from neutral by Citi, which lowered its price target to $5.50 from $13 amid less optimistic outlook for bitcoin. Strategy also dropped as its price target was lowered to $260 from $325 by Citi. Oklo fell after reporting a wider-than-expected full-year loss per share after the bell yesterday. Rocket Lab dropped after announcing an at-the-market offering to sell up to $1 billion of equity. SailPoint sank after its 2027 revenue forecast missed estimates. Unilever fell amid a report that the consumer goods company is looking to spin off its remaining food brands. The Iran war is producing the sharpest spike in US gas prices since Hurricane Katrina US national gas prices are up nearly 29% over the past 20 days, per AAA. Read more. Tech giants including Microsoft and Oracle can't get data centers built fast enough. Construction stocks are ripping on the demand. The buy-the-AI-bottleneck trade is starting to encompass builders, whose margins are rising. Read more. Here's another sign Anthropic's enterprise tools are killing it: The AI firm now captures 73% of all spending among companies buying AI tools for the first time, Axios reports, citing data from Ramp, a fintech company that provides corporate cards and expense management software. Read more. OpenAI is shipping everything. Anthropic is perfecting one thing. The two AI titans are in a race to grow revenues, but they have very different strategies for releasing products. And one approach appears to be winning out. Big Tech companies are now racing to see who can build the best AI coworker After years of trying to have the best model, Big Tech is getting serious about the business side of AI. It's the end of Disney's Iger era (again) Incoming CEO Josh D'Amaro is replacing Bob Iger on Wednesday, though Iger will remain a senior adviser through the end of the year. Microsoft considers suing Amazon and OpenAI over $50 billion deal This is the latest drama in Microsoft and OpenAI's long-standing relationship.  Morgan Stanley says robotaxis could help Tesla sell more cars The analysts visited Giga Texas and left more optimistic about Tesla's robotaxi push. US vinyl sales topped $1 billion last year for the first time since 1983 With fandoms and audiophiles alike now wanting their music in a physical format, the analog economy is thriving. Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold The company is waiting until market conditions improve.  Small Danish company Trustpilot has become a surprise AI winner Trustpilot's profits jumped nearly threefold in 2025, thanks to AI chatbots eager to cite its website in their responses. Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to The Wrap and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? 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