Stocks Drift Near Records as Wall Street Awaits Retail Earnings

The stock market is like a giant scoreboard for companies.

On Monday, the scoreboard barely moved and stayed near its highest level ever.

Big stores like Walmart, Target and Home Depot are about to tell us how much people are shopping.

This matters because prices for everyday things are going up fast, which is called inflation.

Some people have less money to spend because companies cut jobs last month.

Oil prices went up because of a war with Iran, which can make things more expensive.

The government's bank, called the Federal Reserve, might make borrowing money cost more to slow down inflation.

That is why mortgage rates for houses are near their highest level in a year.

Some company news also happened: the boss of L3Harris left, and Berkshire Hathaway bought more Google stock but sold its beer company shares.