U.S. stocks hovered near their record levels on Monday as dull trading resumed before the release of widely-watched inflation data and the start of first-quarter corporate earnings. The Dow Jones fell 55 points or -0.16%, the S&P 500 was down just -0.02%, while the Nasdaq dropped -0.36%.

Wall Street has been relatively quiet with the S&P 500 moving within 1% for five sessions in a row. Market volatility has declined to pre-pandemic levels amid rising reopening optimism.

Nvidia jumped +5.6% after the chip giant said its first quarter revenue for fiscal 2022 is tracking above its previously provided outlook and that it expects demand to continue to exceed supply for much of this year. The weakness in reopening plays weighed on the overall market with shares of Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line off more than 4% each. United Airlines fell -3.9% after the carrier said its first-quarter revenue is expected to fall 66% compared with the same period in 2019.

Alibaba Group surged +9.1%, logging the biggest one-day gain in four years as investors expressed relief following the US$2.8B fine assessed by China’s antitrust regulator. The China-based ecommerce giant's Chief Executive Daniel Yong Zhang said in a conference call after the fine, "we don't expect material negative impact" following changes to comply with the regulator's orders. The company said it will not appeal the decision.

The first-quarter earnings reporting season begins this week, with expectations set for broadly positive news and an uptrend for U.S. equities thanks to a recovering economy. Many of the nation’s largest banks, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will this week report results for the three months ended March 31.