STORY: Stocks finished mixed Monday as investors took a breather after three weekly gains and ahead of key inflation readings later this week.

The Dow fell two-tenths of one percent, The S&P 500 was flat and the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up three tenths.

Investors are cautiously awaiting April's Consumer Price Index data due out on Wednesday.

They will also be monitoring retail sales and earnings reports from Home Depot and Walmart.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said Monday he supports keeping interest rates steady until it is clear that price pressures are moderating.

Investors see the U.S. central bank cutting rates at its September meeting according to the CME FedWatch Tool, though Regan Capital Chief Investment Officer Skyler Weinand said he thinks policymakers may have to move rates the other way.

"The Fed may need to raise rates in order to bring inflation down, even to touch the 'two handle', let alone get to 2%. So we could see that if unemployment still stays under 4 (%), inflation is at, call it 3 1/2 (%) in three, four, five months from right now when the election occurs. We could see that next move up towards a 5 1/2 or even a 6% on the short end."

Stocks on the move Monday included Apple which climbed about two percent after a report said it had closed in on an agreement with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to use the startup's technology on the iPhone.

And GameStop surged 74% after "Roaring Kitty," a former marketer at an insurance firm credited with sparking the 2021 meme stock rally, returned to X.com after a three-year hiatus.