So the February inflation numbers came in exactly as expected - CPI up 0.3% month-over-month and 2.4% year-over-year. Core CPI also matched forecasts at 0.2% monthly and 2.5% annually. This pretty much locks in the Fed holding rates steady through at least April, which is what the market had already priced in anyway.

BTC got a bit of pressure on the news, trading down to $71.52K with a 1.77% dip over the last day. Not a huge reaction honestly, since this was all expected. Meanwhile, XRP took a sharper hit, dropping to $1.33 on heavy selling pressure - that $1.35 level that was supposed to hold gave way pretty quickly. Oil was the real mover though, WTI up 4.2% to $87 a barrel, which has been the main story this week anyway.

What's interesting is how inflation currently remains sticky enough that the Fed's not even considering cuts yet, but it's also not accelerating enough to force their hand on rate hikes. That's kind of the Goldilocks scenario for crypto - rates stay put, which takes away the rate hike fear but doesn't really open the door for aggressive Fed easing either. The real question is whether geopolitical stuff like the recent oil spike changes the Fed's calculus at next week's meeting. That could shift things faster than the inflation data alone.