Inflation data, bitcoin record high, Deere cuts outlook: 3 Things
US stock futures fall after fresh inflation data came in hotter-than-expected. July's Producer Price Index (PPI) showed the largest spike in three years.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) hits a fresh record high, rising above $124,000.
Deere (DE) stock is falling after the company lowered its outlook, as uncertainty among its customers weighs on sales.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief.
First up, US stock futures are falling after the latest read on inflation came in hotter than expected. We're talking about producer price index data for July. It showed that US wholesale inflation accelerated last month by the most in three years, driven by a surge in the cost of services. The latest data throwing some cold water on Wall Street's bets on interest rate cuts in September. Plus, Bitcoin hitting a fresh record high. The digital currency touching $124,000 per token amid the risk-on rally, and smaller competitors like Ether and Solana are trading near records as well amid growing corporate adoption. Plus, earnings continued to roll out on Wall Street, watching results from the world's biggest farm machinery maker Deere. Shares there falling after the company paired back its outlook as struggling farmers pull back on spending. The farm machinery sector had been expected to bottom out this year, but lagging demand for crops amid President Trump's trade wars continues to weigh on the industry.
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Key Points The new regulatory landscape has helped XRP and its issuer, Ripple, which had been fighting the SEC in court since 2020. XRP has real-world utility through its role as a bridge currency in Ripple's payment network. Institutional investors have bought over $1 billion in XRP tokens in 2025. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › No top cryptocurrency has done better than XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) in 2025. It's up 59% for the year through Aug. 12, more than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all the other big names. It has also added more than $50 billion to its market cap over that time frame. It's not always easy to figure out why certain cryptocurrencies catch fire like this. As meme coins have demonstrated, there can be an element of randomness to it. But in XRP's case, there are a few legitimate reasons why it has been so successful this year. 1. A crypto-friendly regulatory landscape XRP's bull run started with the 2024 presidential election, when it went from a price of $0.50 to over $2.50 in about a month. The election of Donald Trump as president was considered good for the crypto industry, as he campaigned on promises to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet and to fire then-SEC chairman Gary Gensler, who had led a crackdown on cryptocurrencies. While the election was a tailwind for the entire crypto industry, it was especially good news for XRP. Ripple, XRP's parent company, had been battling the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in court since late 2020 over allegations that sales of XRP were an unregistered securities offering. After taking office, Trump immediately appointed Paul Atkins, who's known for being supportive of cryptocurrencies, to lead the SEC, and Atkins was sworn in on April 21. The expectation was that new SEC leadership would finally lead to a resolution in its lawsuit with Ripple. Although it didn't happen overnight, Ripple and SEC both agreed to drop their respective appeals on Aug. 7. 2. Its role in cross-border payments One of the reasons XRP has caught on with investors is because it has legitimate real-world utility as part of Ripple's payment network. Ripple uses blockchain technology to provide faster and cheaper cross-border payments. It can settle transactions in just 3 to 5 seconds for less than $0.01 in fees. XRP enters the picture when a transaction involves multiple fiat currencies. Ripple offers a service called on-demand liquidity (ODL) that uses XRP as an intermediary for these cross-border transactions. The sender converts the payment to XRP tokens and sends them over the Ripple network. The recipient then converts those XRP tokens to its local currency. By using XRP, neither party needs to hold any foreign currency. It's worth noting that just because a financial institution uses Ripple doesn't necessarily mean it uses XRP, too. 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See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Lyle Daly has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, JPMorgan Chase, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Reasons XRP Has Dominated the Cryptocurrency Market in 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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