Trading was muted throughout Monday's session as market participants anticipated a week packed with key economic data, Federal Reserve speeches, and the start of the first-quarter earnings season. Major benchmarks remained near their record highs.

Investors are looking ahead to Tuesday's highly-anticipated U.S. consumer price index release, with economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.5% gain in CPI month-over month and a 2.5% increase year-over-year.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell in an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" on Sunday reiterated that the central bank will only move interest rates higher after inflation rates reach above 2% for an extended period of time.

"We want to see inflation move up to 2%--and we mean that on a sustainable basis, we don't mean just tap the base once," Powell stated. "But then we'd also like to see it on track to move moderately about 2% for some time."

Here's how the market closed to start the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.02% or -0.70 points to 4,128.10

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.16% or -54.78 points to 33,745.86

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.39% or -54.51 points to 13,845.77

For Stocks, shares of Alibaba (BABA  ) soared after Chinese regulators imposed a $2.8 billion antitrust fine on the company, which was lower than expected. Uber (UBER  ) shares also surged after the company said in a securities filing that its delivery business rose to a record annual gross bookings run-rate of $52 billion in March.

For Sector Performance, sectors ended the session mostly higher with Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ) and Real Estate (XLRE  ) leading gains. Information Technology (XLK  ), Communication Services (XLC  ) and Energy (XLE  ) were the only sectors in the red.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) slipped slightly lower on Monday as traders looked ahead to key inflation and retail sales data in the coming days. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six other global currencies, declined by 0.04% to 92.164 in later trading. Gold (GLD  ) prices also fell as an increase in U.S. Treasury yields harmed the yellow metal's appeal as a safe haven. Spot gold was down 0.6% at $1,732.14 per ounce in afternoon trade, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.7% lower at $1,732.70 per ounce. Crude oil prices rose on Monday as market participants continued to rally behind the fast paced U.S. coronavirus vaccination effort. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) was up 0.4% to over $63 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) gained 0.5% to $59.70 each.

For Tuesday, all eyes will be on the consumer price index for March.