Quarter Ends With a Thud

Taking out food and energy, the personal consumption expenditure price index is now higher by 1.9% over the past year, down from 2% in April. That number is within the Federal Reserve's so-called comfort zone range of 1% to 2%.

"As recently as February, the year-over-year rate was as high as 2.4%, but as we know from their statement yesterday, the Fed does not yet view this as a convincing slowdown," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics.

"Real spending was a bit weaker than we expected in every sector, though at least some of the softness in services was likely due to the relatively warm weather, which will have cut real energy spending," he added.

The economic docket was littered with other releases that also helped to give stocks an early lift. While the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index eased to a reading of 60.2 in June from 61.7 last month, it still topped estimates of 58.

Elsewhere, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for June was revised to a reading of 85.3 from the preliminary 83.7. Forecasts were for 84.

Additionally, the government also said that construction spending rose 0.9% in May, nearly five times estimates. April's gain of 0.1% was revised higher to 0.2%.

Treasury prices rose after the reports. The 10-year note climbed 17/32 to yield 5.03%, and the 30-year bond rose 1-3/32 in price, yielding 5.12%. The dollar was mixed against the world's major currencies.