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It is a big day for the stock market for a variety of reasons. 

• There is key economic data to digest: there is the "hard data" in the February Personal Income and Spending Report and the "soft data" in the Final University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for March.
• CoreWeave (CRWV), which operates a cloud platform that provides scaling, support, and acceleration for GenAI, is going public, having priced a 37.5 million share IPO at $40.00 that is below the expected range of $47-55.
• President Trump is slated to speak to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this morning (time unknown), according to CBC.

It is a big day, too, because it will end up determining if the stock market can log another winning week. The last few sessions have not been inspiring, but sitting on the cushion of Monday's big rally, the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 enter today up 0.4% for the week, while the Nasdaq is sitting on a mere 0.1% gain.

Currently, the S&P 500 futures are down 22 points and are trading 0.4% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 101 points and are trading 0.5% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 110 points and are trading 0.3% below fair value.

The hard data released at 8:30 a.m. ET conveyed the hard truth that the Fed cannot be expected to cut the fed funds rate soon.

Personal income increased 0.8% month-over-month in February (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) following a downwardly revised 0.7% increase (from 0.9%) in January. Personal spending rose 0.4% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.6%) following a downwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.2%) in January.

The PCE Price Index was up 0.3% month-over-month, as expected, which left it up 2.5% year-over-year, unchanged from January. The core-PCE Price Index jumped 0.4% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%), which left it up 2.8% year-over-year versus an upwardly revised 2.7% (from 2.6%) in January.

The key takeaway from the report is that it was good on the income side, just okay on the spending side (real PCE up just 0.1%), and bad on the inflation side with the uptick in the core-PCE Price Index. That mixed complexion, which is apt to stir some stagflation angst as well, will keep the Fed in a wait-and-watch mode, especially with near-term price adjustments likely as the tariffs take hold.

The consumer sentiment report will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET and will be monitored closely by the market since it is a more current indicator that will shed light on what consumers are thinking about inflation and their personal finances.

Separately, lululemon (LULU) is feeling the squeeze of some more cautious-minded consumer spending. The company reported better-than-expected earnings results for its fourth quarter, with comparable sales flat for its Americas segment. The kicker for the stock, however, was the company's light guidance for the first quarter and full year. Shares of LULU are down 11.6% in pre-market trading.

This price action is another drag on growth stocks, while the company's light guidance is another element factoring into the market's broader growth concerns.

--Patrick J. O'Hare, Briefing.com

(Editor's note: The original version indicated the Index of Consumer Sentiment reading for March was a preliminary reading. It should have said it is a final reading for March. The comment has been edited to account for that change.)