Marketmind: Booming stocks step back as PCE hoves into view

Chastened interest rates markets are now inclined to doubt there will be any U.S. monetary easing in the first half of this year, prompting a minor stepback in record high stock indexes into a new week dominated by the latest critical inflation update. Before we get to the Federal Reserve’s favored PCE price gauge release on Thursday, U.S. Treasury yields slipped back somewhat – ahead of 2- and 5-year debt auctions later in the day and partly soothed by ebbing crude oil prices. The money is due to run out again on Friday for some federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation, while others like the Defense Department face a March 8 deadline.