Stocks closed mostly higher yesterday with the big three indexes in the green, while the small-cap Russell 2000, and mid-cap S&P 400 were in the red.

While the Nasdaq spent most of the day in the plus column, the others spent much of the day under pressure. But came off their worst levels in the afternoon and finished near their best levels by the close.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq continue to trade within striking distance of their all-time highs made just last week. And while the pullback in chip stocks set the recent decline in motion, other big names like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, for example, have already made new highs over the last couple of days.

In other news, yesterday's MBA Mortgage Applications were up 0.8% w/w, with purchases up 1.2% and refi's off -0.1%.

New Home Sales came in at 619,000 vs. last month's 698K and views for 650K.

And the Survey of Business Uncertainty showed U.S. firms expecting sales growth of 3.77% over the next 12 months vs. last month's 3.82%, while they expect employment growth of 4.55% vs. last month's 4.14% pace.

Today we'll get Durable Goods Orders, the third and final estimate for Q1 GDP (consensus is for 1.4%), the International Trade in Goods report, Weekly Jobless Claims, Retail and Wholesale Inventories, Pending Home Sales, the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index, and Corporate Profits.

But the report everybody is really waiting for is Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index (which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge). Another report that shows inflation heading back down, like the better-than-expected CPI and PPI reports from two weeks ago, could eventually allow the Fed to cut rates sooner rather than later. Although, nobody is expecting anything until September at the earliest, and more likely November or December.

As of now, the headline number is expected to be up 0.1% m/m vs. last month's 0.3%. On a y/y basis it's expected to be up 2.6% vs. last month's 2.7%. The consensus for the core rate (ex-food & energy) is for a 0.1% m/m change vs. last month's 0.2%. And the annual rate is forecast 2.6% vs. last month's 2.8%. If so, that would indeed be another report showing easing inflation.

But before that, we've got a busy day of economic reports to get thru today first.

See you tomorrow,