US stocks were essentially unchanged at the close of a choppy session on Monday. The market was distracted by a solar eclipse and investors awaited crucial inflation data and the start of the first-quarter earnings season. The highest benchmark US Treasury yields since November held back all three major US stock indexes following Friday’s blowout employment report. This report raised the chances of the Federal Reserve delaying its first interest rate cut at its monthly Federal Open Market Committee meetings. Wall Street adjusted its expectations, with many predicting that a rate cut will now occur at the July FOMC meeting rather than in June. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research, stated that Wall Street is adjusting expectations to reflect the fact that the Fed could be slower to lower interest rates. On Wednesday, the Labor Department’s March Consumer Price Index (CPI) report is expected to show a slight cooldown in monthly price growth and a nominal decrease in the annual core number. However, year-on-year headline CPI is expected to rise to 3.4% from 3.2% in February, indicating inflation’s journey towards the Fed’s 2% annual target. Austan Goolsbee, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President, mentioned that the central bank must consider the duration it can maintain its restrictive policy without damaging the economy. The first-quarter reporting season officially begins on Friday with numbers from major US banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. As of Friday, analysts expect aggregated S&P 500 earnings growth of 5.0% year-on-year, down from the 7.2% annual estimate at the beginning of the quarter. Preliminary data shows that the S&P 500 lost 0.01%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.03%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01%. Tesla Inc shares received a boost after CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would unveil its Robotaxi on August 8. Cryptocurrency-related stocks, including software firm MicroStrategy and exchange operator Coinbase Global, also outperformed, tracking rising bitcoin prices.