Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
The big news this morning is an unexpectedly hot inflation report. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for February more than doubled estimates on headline, month over month: +0.7% for wholesale inflation last month — ahead of the consensus +0.3% and the unrevised +0.5% for January. This is the fourth-straight higher headline PPI print, and the loftiest figure since July of last year.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, core PPI still comes in hotter than expected, by 20 basis points (bps) to +0.5%. This is actually down from the previous month, which was revised up half a full percentage point to +0.8%. Ex-food, energy and trade came in at +0.5% as well, above the +0.3% projected and revised +0.4% from January.
Most analysts spend more time on year-over-year numbers, and here we’re warming up, too: +3.4% on headline PPI is +0.5% higher than the prior month, and the hottest we’ve seen since January of 2025. Same with core PPI: +3.9% is the highest in 13 months, and after three-straight months hitting +3% exactly, we’ve now escalated on core PPI for three months in a row. Ex-food, energy and trade reached +3.5%, a mere +0.1% higher than the prior print.
Couple this with last week’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which notched over +3%, and we see the Fed having a hard time cutting interest rates in the current inflationary environment. (Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives his penultimate post-FOMC meeting press release today around 2:30pm ET.) And this is before we consider how the attacks on Iran leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have affected oil prices so far this month.
Earnings Reports for Today: M, GIS & More
Ahead of today’s open, Macy’s M beat estimates in its Q4 report, with earnings of $1.67 per share easily surpassing the $1.53 in the Zacks consensus, for a +9.15% positive surprise. Revenues of $7.64 billion in the quarter came ahead of estimates by +1.53%, though are still lower than the year-ago quarter. Shares had zoomed higher by +9%, but have ebbed since. And the stock is still digging out of a -23% hole year to date. For more on M’s earnings, click here.
General Mills GIS reported fiscal Q3 results this morning, but missed expectations. Earnings of 64 cents per share came up a dime shy of the Zacks consensus, while revenues of $4.44 billion missed by -0.94%, and were down from the $4.84 billion reported a year ago. Shares are down -1.5% in the pre-market on the news. For more on GIS’ earnings, click here.
After today’s close, we’ll see fiscal Q2 earnings results from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated Micron MU, which is expected to deliver jaw-dropping gains of +464% on earnings year over year and +139.7% on revenues. This is one of the top chipmaking AI plays, and shares are up +62% so far in 2026.
Specialty discount retailer Five Below FIVE also reports earnings after today’s closing bell. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated company is expected to fetch +14.7% gains on earnings year over year and +22.9% on revenues. Its shares have gained nearly +14% so far this year.
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