US stocks mostly stalled on Thursday as Wall Street digested a much hotter-than-expected PPI inflation print, souring optimism around a large September rate cut. July's Producer Price Index (PPI) came in well above expectations,

The S&P 500 rally has a downside for inflation: surging portfolio management costs. Those costs surged 5.8% in July. Yet while portfolio costs are part of the core PCE price index, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said that policymakers are more concerned with market-based prices.

Earlier this week, falling bond yields and growing expectations for aggressive Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts in the months ahead helped spark a rotation away from what had been working in the U.S.