Today's inflation reading had stocks all over the board, but ultimately Wall Street finished confidently in the black, helping all three major indexes lock in their fourth-straight monthly win. The Nasdaq scored a record close today and led the major benchmarks in February, while the Dow snapped a three-day slump and locked up its best monthly streak since May 2021. Elsewhere, the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) turned in its worst monthly percentage loss since November 2023.

BLACK GOLD LOGS BACK-TO-BACK MONTHLY WINS

Oil prices logged their second-straight month of gains amid a ongoing global supply fears, adding 3.2% in February. For the session, however, April-dated West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 28 cents, or 0.4%, to finish at $78.26 per barrel.

Gold futures lost 0.6% this month, but April-dated gold added $12, or 0.5%, to settle at $2,054.70 per ounce for the day.

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