Stocks End Lower, But Near All-Time Highs  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed modestly lower yesterday with the big 3 indexes giving up about a third of a percent. Stocks started off strong with both the S&P and Nasdaq hitting new, all-time, intraday highs. But they couldn't hold on and they all finished in the red by day's end with the small-cap Russell 2000 taking the brunt of it with a loss of -1.88%. Nothing particularly new. The improving economy continues to impress. But talk of inflation also continues. (Although, with headlines vacillating between inflation panic and deflation panic, it's as if nobody knows what to fret about next.) We shall see how all of this plays out. But for now, growth is strong, but not runaway ridiculous. And inflation is up, but also not runaway. And the belief is that it's still transitory. In other news, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index came in better than expected at 102.5 vs. views for 99.2 and last month's 99.6. The CPI was up 0.9% m/m vs. the consensus for 0.5%. The same goes for the index ex-Food and Energy. On a y/y basis it was up 5.4% (but 4.5% ex-Food and Energy). And the Redbook report showed same store retail sales up 14.0% y/y, which was a slowdown from last month's 19.4% pace. Today we'll get MBA Mortgage Applications, the PPI-Final Demand report, the Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations report, and the Beige Book report. We'll also hear from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell when he speaks to Congress today. (He'll also speak to Congress again tomorrow as well.) Earnings season also continues. We saw some solid beats from the financial industry yesterday with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase surprising on both the top and bottom lines. We'll get another 16 companies reporting earnings today and 95 by the end of the week. Next week ramps up with 410 companies. And then another 1,111 companies the week after that. In the meantime, stocks continue to trade near their highs. And another positive earnings season could push stocks even higher. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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