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Hey friends, we hope you didn't miss us too much yesterday. Check out our takeaways from two days at the Nasdaq with JUST Capital. 

Here's what you need to know today...

1. Everyone's nervous about banks.

2. Inflation is still falling.

3. Supplies are getting cheaper for businesses.

S&P 500: 3,891.931Mo: -5% | 1Yr: -11% | 5Yr: +41%

The market sank lower today as investors worried about the banking system's stability.

Three banks collapsing in less than a week, forcing government rescue, has put investors on edge. The big concern is that the fastest-ever increase in interest rates has stressed smaller banks' business models, which are mainly focused on earning the spread between what they get paid on loans and what they pay out to depositors. Today, a major international bank, Credit Suisse, raised alarms of instability. Credit Suisse has already been dealing with its own problems, though, and the Swiss National Bank promised to help if things got bad. More importantly, a credit rating agency today downgraded a big US regional bank, First Republic, to junk or high-risk status. That's not a great sign. It could be the smaller banks that get hurt first. 

Inflation is moving again in the right direction, back on a path lower after a spike in January. Yesterday, the Consumer Price Index showed prices rose 0.4% in February, still a substantial rise but slower than in January. Everything we spend money on is still 6% more expensive than a year ago. Living costs are still rising but at a more normal pace.

Costs are falling for businesses. The Producer Price Index [🤓] showed wholesale prices actually declined in February, mostly thanks to a 36% drop in egg prices. Overall inflation in the stuff companies spend money on is 4.6% over the past year.

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• Meta slashes 10K jobs, 5K openings, and its NFTs

• Allbirds tries to turn around its nosedive

• Norfolk Southern isn't getting off the hook for East Palestine

• Uber and Lyft don't have to treat their drivers as employees

• Pfizer buys new drugs for migraines and cancer

(These links only work for 24 hours while the story is live)

Producer Price Index (PPI)

The Producer Price Index (PPI) is another important indicator for economists tracking inflation. Inflation is the rate at which things get more expensive.

Unlike the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which looks at a set basket of stuff your average consumer spends money on and tracks how much it costs each month, the PPI tracks the prices of wholesale goods - like how much Ford pays for the tires it installs in its cars before selling them to you. The rate of change in those prices is inflation.

Prices rarely decline. Inflation, aka rising prices, is only a problem when it's really fast. It's fast right now. Business supply costs increasing by 5% per year is not manageable.

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