US stocks trade mixed as investors await big inflation report

• US stocks were mixed on Tuesday as investors prepared for the March consumer price index.
• The inflation report should give investors a better idea if the Fed will hike interest rates again.
• Also on investors' radar is the upcoming first-quarter earnings season, which the banks kick off on Friday.

US stocks were mixed on Tuesday as investors brace for more economic data, with the March consumer price index report scheduled for release Wednesday morning.

Estimates suggest inflation will show a year-over-year pace of 5.2% in March, according to Bloomberg estimates, which would be a deceleration from February's 6% rate.

The inflation report should give investors a better idea if the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again at its May FOMC meeting. Inflation still remains well above the Fed's long-term target of 2%.

Investors are also preparing for the first-quarter earnings season, which starts with mega-cap banks JPMorgan and Wells Fargo Friday morning. Analysts have lowered their Q1 S&P 500 earnings estimates to $50.76 per share from $54.13 at the start of the year, according to DataTrek Research.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,108.95, unchanged
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,684.79, up 0.29% (98.27 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 12,031.88, down 0.43%

Here's what else is happening this morning:

• Warren Buffett told Nikkei that Berkshire Hathaway sold a bulk of its Taiwan Semiconductor stock late last year because of the rising geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan.
• There's no clear sign of a credit crunch in the US yet, the president of the New York Federal Reserve has said — even as his own bank's survey found Americans are already feeling the squeeze.
• The US job market is the strongest it's been in decades – and the Federal Reserve doesn't need to raise unemployment in order to bring down inflation, according to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman.
• Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have loaned $100 million of their own money to support their Gemini Trust Co. crypto exchange after running into hurdles during the market slump for digital assets.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.12% to $81.43 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped 1.59% to $85.52.
• Gold rose 0.77% to $2,019.30 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose one basis point to 3.43%.
• Bitcoin rose 0.16% to $30,196, while ether fell 1.43% to $1,896.