According to market pricing, a hotter January PPI and widening credit spreads curbed risk appetite, with March rate-cut odds near zero and safe-haven flows lifting gold and silver while equities and crypto-linked stocks retreated.
Bitcoin fell below $66,000 during the early U.S. session, trading around $65,600 (with prints near $65,507), down roughly 2%–3% over 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 Index dropped 2.3%, while ether, XRP and solana declined by similar amounts. Crypto-exposed equities retreated: MicroStrategy slipped ~3%, Coinbase more than 2%, and Circle nearly 5%, while miners IREN, Cipher Mining, Core Scientific and TeraWulf lost 6%–8%. Broader risk assets weakened as the Nasdaq fell 0.8% and the S&P 500 0.6%. January core PPI rose 3.6% year over year, above the 3.0% estimate and up from 3.3%, pushing markets to price a 96% chance of no rate cut at the March 18 Federal Reserve meeting. Credit spreads widened to a four-month high, and private-equity firms KKR, Ares and Apollo dropped 6%–7% to session lows. Geopolitical tensions rose as odds of U.S. strikes against Iran increased following the evacuation of some U.S. embassy staff from Israel. Safe-haven flows gained traction: the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield slipped below 4% for the first time since November 2024; gold rose 1% above $5,230/oz, silver surged 4% above $92, and crude oil climbed 2.3% above $67/barrel. Derivatives positioning pointed to increased downside hedging, while AI-related tokens Internet Computer, Render and Bittensor outperformed, aided by Nvidia’s earnings-driven sentiment.