on wednesday the dow jones industrial average djia rose 39 points or 011 to 34128 the sp 500 spx increased 11 points or 028 to 4148 and the nasdaq composite comp gained 110 points or 092 to 12071 equity benchmarks continue to trundle higher befuddling those observers accustomed to equating higher bond yields which reflect concerns about more federal reserve rate hikes with softer stocks in recent sessions traders have absorbed data showing us inflation being stubbornly sticky and strong retail sales these follow a surprisingly strong jobs report at the start of the month consequently benchmark us treasury yields tmubmusd10y are near their highest for 2023 yet the sp 500 sits just shy of its best level since august having bounced 8 for the year to date “are rising rates and yields a sign of normality or looming trouble again is us inflation hitting a glitch in its disinflationary journey is a soft hard or no landing more likely now after what we’ve seen so far this year” asked jim reid strategist at deutsche bank stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management expressed similar exasperation “this is a market that constantly asks different questions at different prices and on different days and of course there is no shortage of different answers” an indication of just how relaxed investors have become about the current market scenario can be seen in the level of the cboe vix index vix  a measure of expected sp 500 volatility the vix which tends to jump when traders get anxious is hovering near 18 below its long run average of 20 part of the reason for the declining vix is that the sp 500 has been meandering in a relatively tight range for the last 10 sessions noted mark newton head of technical strategy at fundstrat “us equity markets are holding up far better than might be expected with treasury yields pressing higher this will be something to continue to watch carefully” he said in a note to clients “there remains a realistic threat of minor weakness into late february and this would be officially underway on spx break of 4060 though even weakness under 4095 would warn of this possibly getting underway conversely 4160 and also 4176 are the two areas to monitor on the upside” newton added us economic updates set for release on thursday include weekly initial jobless claims the january producer price index building permits and housing starts and the february philadelphia fed manufacturing survey all due at 830 am eastern