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Briefing.com Summary: 

*Market looks to sustain Monday push to fresh records in S&P 500 and Dow with no big surprises in December CPI report

*Additional tariff being imposed on countries dealing with Iran

*JPMorgan Chase (JPM) kicks off Q4 earnings season

The stock market started the week with a modest Monday advance, though that was still good enough to lift the Dow and S&P 500 to fresh record highs.

The major averages are on course for a slightly higher start this morning with S&P 500 futures currently trading three points above fair value.

That standing improved after the market received the CPI report for December, which showed that total CPI was up 0.3% month-over-month in December (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) after increasing 0.2% in November. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was up 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) after increasing 0.2% in November. On a year-over-year basis, total CPI was up 2.7% versus 2.7% in November, while core CPI was up 2.6% versus 2.6% in November.

The key takeaway from the report is that core CPI was a touch cooler than expected, which prevented the year-over-year rate from rising. While this is a small victory, it is a welcome sight for a market that hopes to see some more future disinflation that would encourage the Fed to keep cutting rates.

Besides the CPI report, the overnight news flow was on the light side. President Trump announced last evening through a social media post that a 25% tariff will be imposed on countries that continue doing business with Iran. The buried lede here is that China is the largest buyer of oil from Iran.

Staying on the subject of tariffs, there is speculation that tomorrow's Supreme Court opinion could pertain to tariff policy, but the exact subject will not be known until the opinion is made public.

The market received just a handful of quarterly reports this morning, but the batch included results from JPMorgan Chase (JPM 325.23, +0.74, +0.23%), which typically herald the start of the earnings season. The bank missed GAAP expectations, but its adjusted results were ahead of estimates.

Treasuries have started the day in flat fashion with the 10-yr yield sitting near yesterday's settlement at 4.19%.