March 18, 2026

Stocks fell on Wednesday after a hotter-than-expected producer price index reading and as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s rate policy decision.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 235 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, as did the Nasdaq Composite.

The producer price index — which tracks the change in wholesale prices — rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated. The report shows that inflation was already in a precarious spot prior to the Iran war breaking out — an event that has heightened stagflation fears amid rising oil prices.

Stocks dropped on Wednesday as a hotter-than-expected producer price index reading showed wholesale prices rose 0.7% in February, more than double economists' forecasts, fueling concerns that structural inflation could pressure the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy well into the third quarter. The Dow fell 235 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined by 0.4%, reflecting growing worries about rising costs in metals, industrial inputs, and manufacturing amid escalating energy prices driven by the Iran conflict, which has pushed oil futures sharply higher and intensified stagflation fears across markets.

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