Good Evening. After shocking inflation data revealed that prices grew more than anticipated last month, U.S. stocks plummeted on Tuesday. All three major averages saw their worst day since June 2020.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.16%, with technology stocks leading the decline. According to data from Bespoke Investment Group, Tuesday’s session marked the ninth time this year that the Nasdaq declined by 4% or more. While there were zero similar-sized losses in 2018, there were ten in 2020. The Dow Jones lost 3.94%, while the S&P 500 fell by 4.32%.
GET YOUR MORNING COFFEE IN A NEW WAY
Starbucks (SBUX) recently introduced its Odyssey program, an Ethereum-based platform that users can log into using their existing program credentials to play games or complete challenges to win non-fungible tokens. Additionally, they will be buyable without the use of cryptocurrency using a credit card.
These NFTs, also known as “journey stamps,” will allow customers to access benefits other than the standard free coffee, such as vacations or activities.
Customers can currently sign up for a waitlist, but only time will tell if there will be a rush for the program. The idea has only been in development for six months, according to an executive who spoke with TechCrunch, but during that time the market for NFTs has seen a significant transformation. According to Fortune, the most well-known NFT platform, OpenSea, saw a 99% decrease in trading volume between early May and late August.
Zoom out: Among the significant changes coming to Starbucks is the Web3 push. Howard Schultz, the interim CEO, will be replaced by a new leader, but not until Schultz outlines a new efficiency-focused plan during today’s investor day.
INFLATION DATA IS IN
Even though prices have decreased from four-decade highs achieved earlier this year, inflation increased more than anticipated in August.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August showed a rise of 0.1% over July and an increase of 8.3% over the same month last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bloomberg predicts that economists anticipated prices to increase by 8.1% over the previous year while decreasing by 0.1% from the previous month.
In August, prices increased 6.3% over the previous year and 0.6% over the previous month on a “core” basis, which excludes the volatile food and energy components of the report. The core CPI was predicted to rise by 0.3% per month and 6.1% annually.
Other parts of the report also showed persistently high inflationary pressures, with rising costs for housing, food, and health care being the biggest single factor in the overall monthly increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, offsetting declines in gas and energy prices.
Looking Forward… At Fed policy-setting meeting on September 20–21, Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to hike interest rates by 75 basis points, according to the data.