Inflation’s Big Boss Is Back! US PPI Jumps 6%, the Fed Rate-Cut Script Falls Apart

US April PPI shot up 6% year over year, and the financial world instantly went into “silence mode.”
Because the market suddenly realized: inflation might not be over—it could just be taking a halftime break.
Why did everyone dare to go on a frenzy buying tech stocks, crypto, and risk assets back then?
Because everyone believed one thing:
“The Fed is about to cut rates.”
But now, with one PPI release, that whole logic gets smashed to bits.
What does a surge in producer-side prices mean?
It means businesses’ costs are still rising.
And companies can’t keep bleeding money themselves, so prices will most likely keep going up.
So the inflation chain could restart.
The most awkward person right now is Powell.
Keep rates high— the economy hurts;
Cut rates early— inflation blows up.
This isn’t a “dilemma” anymore; it’s a “trilemma.”
The market has also started sliding back into a high-volatility mode.
Treasury yields are rising, money is flowing back into the dollar, and tech stocks are swinging wildly.
Most interesting of all, market sentiment is now completely polarized.
One data point turns out bad, and the whole internet is yelling “we’re crashing”;
One data point turns out good, and the whole internet is yelling “it’s a bull market.”
People aren’t really investing anymore—they’re playing emotional bungee jumping.
But what’s truly worth paying attention to is:
High inflation could reshape global capital logic over the next few years.
In the past, a lot of assets went up mainly on “unlimited liquidity.”
But if high rates last for the long term, many overvalued assets will have to be repriced.
Simply put:
Before, prices could rise just by “telling a story”;
In the future, they may actually have to make real money.
And for many markets, this could be the real stress test. #美国4月PPI同比暴涨6%