The U.S. Labor Department said the producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale price changes, increased 0.4% month over month in August, matching market expectations. PPI tends to feed into the consumer price index (CPI) with a lag. Cryptocurrencies are classified as risk assets and can react to inflation data because PPI and CPI readings influence expectations for Federal Reserve rate decisions. A reading above forecasts could weaken expectations for rate cuts, while softer data could reinforce them. Risk assets generally tend to rise when expectations increase for greater liquidity associated with lower interest rates.