Stocks higher as Fed, ECB signal plans to stay dovish The S&P 500 had a mild advance following a soft inflation reading and minutes from the Fed that showed a majority of FOMC members believe rates should likely remain where they are through 2019. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank also signaled it plans no rate hikes for the rest of 2019 while EU leaders met in Brussels to work out the terms of a delay for the United Kingdom's planned exit from the Union. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Consumer Prices Index rose 0.4% in March compared to the prior month, with the core rate edging up 0.1%, both of which matched expectations. On a year-over-year basis, the headline CPI growth rate accelerated to 1.9%. In Federal Reserve news, minutes from the last Fed meeting show that the majority of Fed members see rates unchanged for the remainder of 2019 and that they have discussed "alternative interpretations of subdued inflation pressures." In trade news, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC that trade talks last night with China were "very productive" but that he doesn't see a need to set an "arbitrary" deadline for an agreement. Mnuchin added that the U.S. and China have agreed as part of their talks to open "enforcement offices" that will deal with ongoing trade matters. Meanwhile, Nikkei Asian Review reported that Japan has finalized the topics it plans to discuss in talks with the U.S. next week for a trade agreement on goods, including some services. The publication also noted that Japan intends to rebuff any request for automobile quotas or foreign exchange provisions. In Europe, the ECB kept its key interest rates unchanged and said it expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels "at least through the end of 2019," or longer if needed. The central bank also reiterated that it intends to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the asset purchase program for an extended period of time past the date when it starts raising rates. In the U.K., Bloomberg reported that the EU is said to be heading toward a Brexit extension of 9-12 months. TOP NEWS: Shares of Delta (DAL) rose 1.6% after the airline operator reported better than expected results for the first quarter and raised its FY19 revenue growth view. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were 1.4% higher after Reuters reported that a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is planning to introduce legislation on Wednesday to expand the EV tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer. The existing $7,500 EV tax credit, which allows tax payers to deduct part of the cost of buying an electric vehicle, phases out over 15 months once an automaker hits 200,000 cumulative EV sales. General Motors (GM) saw its tax credit cut to $3,750 on April 1, while Tesla's tax credit fell to $3,750 on January 1 and will end entirely at year's end. The CEOs of several of the nation's largest banks headed to Capitol Hill to be questioned by members of the House Financial Services Committee, including Citigroup's (C) Michael Corbat, JPMorgan's (JPM) Jamie Dimon, Morgan Stanley's (MS) James Gorman, Bank of America's (BAC) Brian Moynihan, State Street's (STT) Ronald O'Hanley, Bank of New York Mellon's (BK) Charlie Scharf and Goldman Sachs' (GS) David Solomon. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Global Brass and Copper (BRSS), which surged 25.2% after it agreed to be acquired by Wieland-Werke for $44 per share in cash. Also higher was Discovery Communications (DISCA), which gained 6.1% after announcing a multi-year programming partnership with Google's (GOOGL) YouTube. Among the notable losers was Lyft (LYFT), which slid 10.85% after Reuters reported that Uber (UBER) is expected to seek to sell about $10B in common stock in its IPO at a valuation of $90B-$100B. Also lower was Snap (SNAP), which fell 2.75% after eMarketer released its forecast for the company's user growth. However, the company said that the methodology of eMarketer's recent forecast for the company's U.S. business was "flawed" and said its user forecast is more than 10M off from the company's publicly available reach on its ad buying tool. INDEXES: The Dow rose 6.58, or 0.025%, to 26,157.16, the Nasdaq gained 54.97, or 0.69%, to 7,964.24, and the S&P 500 advanced 10.01, or 0.35%, to 2,888.21. Symbols: $DAL $TSLA $GM $C $JPM $MS $BAC $STT $BK $GS $BRSS $DISCA $GOOG $GOOGL $LYFT UBER $SNAPSource: (thefly.com)