Inflation is falling, productivity is rising, and the Fed is likely to cut rates, but forecasters warn not to assume that means stocks keep rising.

U.S. indices are down in premarket trading as Wall Street’s record-breaking rally appeared to lose some steam despite strong quarterly performances from high-profile companies

Last week, RBC Capital's Paul Treiber boosted his fair-value assessment of Shopify to $100 per share, well up from his preceding level of $85. In doing so, he maintained his outperform (read: buy) recommendation, as the new price target sits a comfortable 21% over the stock's most recent closing price.

U.S. stocks are pulling back from their all-time highs as some of the steam comes out of Wall Street’s long, record-breaking rally.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in afternoon trading and is lingering close to its all-time high set early this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2 points, or less than 0.1%, a day after setting its own record , while the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher, as of 12:21 p.m. Eastern time.

That conclusion is further supported by the fact that Berkshire had $277 billion in cash and U.S. Treasuries on its balance sheet as of the June quarter, another record for the company. Finally, Buffett repurchased a mere $345 million in Berkshire stock during the June quarter, which marks his smallest allocation to stock buybacks in six years.

Asian shares outside of China are lower in cautious trading ahead of earnings reports both in the region and overseas, after Wall Street's long, record-breaking rally ran out of steam.

China's mainland shares posted modest gains as a lending rate cut juiced real estate stocks, but investors awaited more details on government stimulus.