The S&P 500 has been on a roll for the last 3 months.  After stumbling out of the blocks in January and February, the stock index was down a whopping 18.2% YTD (total return) as the month of March began.  But the S&P 500 index has rebounded strongly, gaining +25.8% over the subsequent 3-months of March-April-May.  As June begins today, the S&P 500 is up +3.0% YTD (source: BTN Research). 
 
Stock, bond and real estate investors have been watching the rising yield on the 10-year Treasury note with concern.  The yield got as high as 3.75% last Wednesday, up from 2.22% at the first of the year.  The fear is that the Fed's purchase of nearly $150 billion of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed assets in the last 10 weeks may not be enough to keep interest rates down.  Any near term recovery in the US housing industry may be difficult to achieve if rates keep rising (source: BTN Research).     
 
The nationwide average price of a gallon of gasoline has gone up for 33 consecutive days, reaching $2.50 a gallon yesterday (Sunday).  The cost of gas was only $1.62 a gallon at the beginning of the year but was $3.98 a gallon a year ago today (source: AAA).