Huatai Securities: August Core CPI Overshoot Makes September Fed Hike a ‘Necessity’

The note reframes the September decision: with core services ex-housing stalling and oil above $100, the burden of proof has shifted toward those arguing for a pause, not for a hike. That matters most for rate-sensitive corners of crypto and tokenized real-world assets, where the marginal buyer has been positioned for a peak in policy rates. The open question is whether the market prices a hike as a one-off insurance move or as a longer tightening path; the former is absorbable, the latter resets the macro backdrop for the whole sector.