The stock market was volatile last week as inflation concerns whipsawed stocks, ultimately pushing them lower on the week. During Friday's session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 361 points, or 1.06%. The S&P 500 was up 1.49%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 2.32%. For the week, the DJIA was down 397 points, or 1.14%, the S&P 500 was down 1.39%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.34%. Year-to-date, the DJIA is up 12.34%, the S&P 500 is up 11.12%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 4.20%.

This edition features possible upcoming corporate tax hikes; European low-cost-ticket airlines; an earnings roundup; and notes from Honda, Macerich, and Green Thumb Industries.

Stocks fell again on Wednesday morning amid continued inflation fears, as the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.68% and U.S. consumer prices rose at their highest rate in nearly 12 years. The Labor Department reported that its consumer price index rose 0.8% in April, up from 0.6% in March and well above the Reuters consensus forecast of 0.2% growth. The CPI also rose 4.2% from the prior year, up from a 2.6% increase in March. The Dow fell 0.9%, the S&P 1.2%, and the Nasdaq 2.0%. Crude oil traded near $66 per barrel, while gold fell $4 to $1832 per ounce.

Stocks fell again on Tuesday on continued inflation fears. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to more than 1.62%. On the employment front, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that U.S. job openings rose by 597,000 to a record 8.1 million as of March 31. The data again highlighted the tight labor market for companies seeking to fill jobs in a recovering economy, and the potential impact of government stimulus programs in limiting the supply of workers. The Dow fell 1.3%, the S&P 0.9%, and the Nasdaq 0.1%. Crude oil traded near $65 per barrel, while gold rose $1 to $1838 per ounce.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Mid Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. The market capitalization range for U.S. mid-caps typically falls between $1 billion and $8 billion and represents 20% of the total capitalization of the U.S. equity market.

Last week in this space, we detailed stubbornly negative, but grudgingly improving, insider sentiment. The easy path this week would be to say that conditions are little changed. And in the big picture, that is true. But there are some interesting highlights in the insider-transaction data from Vickers Stock Research this week.