us stocks posted a mixed finish monday struggling for direction as investors weighed a federal reserve survey of loan officers for signs of a credit crunch awaited inflation data due this week and tracked choppy trading in shares of regional banks a small rise for the nasdaq composite however was enough to see the index meet widely used criteria marking an exit from a bear market on friday the dow rose 54664 points or 17 as stocks rallied following april jobs data but the dow and sp 500 still suffered weekly losses while the nasdaq composite eked out a gain read are we in the beginning of a new bull market the odds are against it investors parsed a quarterly federal reserve survey of senior loan officers released monday afternoon for signs that regionalbank woes alongside the feds aggressive monetary tightening over the last 14 months have started to translate into a credit crunch regarding loans to businesses survey respondents reported on balance tighter standards and weaker demand for commercial and industrial ci loans to large and middlemarket firms as well as to small firms during the first quarter the fed reported meanwhile banks saw tighter standards and weaker demand for all commercial realestate loan categories see fed lending survey has perfect track record when it comes to foreshadowing recessions strategist for loans to households banks reported that lending standards tightened across all categories of residential realestate loans other than governmentsponsored enterpriseeligible and government residential mortgages which were largely unchanged meanwhile demand weakened for all residential realestate loan categories in addition banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for homeequity lines of credit standards tightened for all consumer loan categories and demand weakened for automobile and other consumer loans while it remained basically unchanged for credit cards the fed said meanwhile bank shares remained in the spotlight shares of pacwest bancorp pacw rose 36 in choppy trading shares saw an 81 surge on friday the regional lender said late friday that it will cut its dividend payment among other bank shares western alliance bancorp wal rose 06 comerica inccma fell 08 and zions bancorpzion rose 21 after registering strong early gains the spdr sp regional banking etf kre declined 2 get in the knowfive regional banks and an etf that are ready to soar says fundstrat investors have been isolating the recent banking stress as a oneoff event while we dont expect the recent banking issues to become systemic credit availability will tighten said richard saperstein chief investment officer of treasury partners a new yorkbased investment firm with 9 billion in assets under management we have yet to wring out the excesses of a decade of easy money and the banking stress is emblematic of the breakage that has started to occur following the feds steep pace of rate hikes over the past year he said in emailed comments the federal reserve signaled it may hold rates steady at its next policy meeting after delivering a 10th straight increase last week though the outcome will be determined by incoming data fedfundsfutures markets have priced in rate cuts by yearend though fed chair jerome powell last week said cuts would be inappropriate given the central banks inflation outlook analysts said stockmarket investors may be overly optimistic on the prospect for easing by the fed labormarket data looks too hot to justify a further dovish shift in fed policy said mark haefele chief investment officer at ubs global wealth management in a monday note inflation though moderating remains too high for comfort he said while stockmarket valuations are pricing in too rosy an outcome for the economy we are least preferred on equities overall and see greater upside in fixed income especially highquality government bonds where there is scope for capital gains in the event of an economic downturn haefele wrote given elevated valuations we also recommend investors diversify beyond the us market and growth sectors stock market todaydo stockmarket investors really want fed rate cuts be careful what you wish for principals shah investors over the weekend heard from billionaire investor warren buffett on a range of topics including his frustration over the regionalbanking woes his thoughts on hype over artificial intelligence and succession issues at berkshire hathaway incsbrkabrka annual meeting in omaha andwarren buffett weighs in on bank woes ai oil apple and other hot topics live blog recap berkshire early saturday reported that operating profit after taxes rose 126 to 81 billion in the first quarter on higher investment income and increased insurance profit berkshire class a shares rose 1 the big data spotlight for the week will be on wednesdays april consumerprice index with producer prices and a consumersentiment survey also coming this week and investors will continue to watch the debtceiling drama on capitol hill treasury secretary janet yellen said sunday there were no good options to avoid an economic calamity if congress fails to raise the nations borrowing limit in the coming weeks also readpaypal seems on track to clear a low bar is that enough to help its stock and big tech has made earnings look better but here come disney and paypal this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal