Stock market today: US stocks fall as investors sift through fresh economic data

• US stocks dipped on Thursday as investors took in new economic data.
• Producer prices in February climbed more than expected, while retail sales were below forecasts.
• A spike in gas prices pushed the producer price index reading higher last month. 

US stocks dropped on Thursday, with investors taking in fresh readings on inflation and retail sales. 

In February, producer prices climbed 0.6% month-over-month, hotter than the expected 0.3% increase. A surge in gas prices helped push the index higher, though Federal Reserve officials tend to ignore volatile energy prices when determining policy and measuring inflation.

The report comes days after the Labor Department reported consumer prices climbed 3.2% year-over-year in February, also hotter than expected.

Meanwhile, retail sales for February climbed by a seasonally adjusted 0.6%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.8% jump. While the reading is lower than what had been expected, it's a strong jump over January's figure, which showed retail sales dipped 0.8%, the biggest drop since March 2023. 

Motor vehicle sales in February saw a 1.6% month-over-month rebound, as well as a modest surge in bar and restaurant spending compared to January.

The retail sales data "appears to reflect the unwinding of the drag on sales from the winter storms in early January, but the details suggest that the strength of consumers over the second half of last year is fading," Capital Economics' deputy chief economist, Andrew Hunter, wrote in a Thursday note. 

The mixed bag of data did little to alter bets on when rate cuts might begin. Fed fund futures show markets see this month's meeting of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee as likely to result in no change, while investors are eyeing June as the most likely date of the first rate cut, with 54% odds the Fed lowers its benchmark rate by 25 basis points. 

Here's where US indexes stood as the market opened at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday: 

• S&P 500: 5,173.44, up 0.17%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 39,149.64, up 0.27% (+106.12 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 16,201.39, up 0.14% 

Here's what else is going on: 

• Putin backed OPEC production cuts but warned of losing oil-market share to the US.
• BofA said Nvidia stock still isn't expensive.
• Crypto miners are pulling in more money than ever as bitcoin crushes records.
• A hedge fund run by a Harvard physics grad delivered 20% returns in 2023 betting on extreme weather.
• An analyst said crypto and AI will drive exorbitant energy use after decades of flat demand.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• Oil prices climbed, with West Texas Intermediate up 1.19% to $80.67 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, moved higher 0.89% to $84.78 a barrel.
• Gold edged lower 0.58% to $2,168.70 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield climbed five basis points to hover at 4.251%.
• Bitcoin dipped 0.81% to $72,538.