US: Stocks flat ahead of Fed meeting

[NEW YORK] US stocks opened little-changed Monday as the market paused ahead of major corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week.

An hour into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,629, down 18 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 6 points to 2,069, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 5 points at 5,026.

Earnings from ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to show the damage from lower oil prices, while Apple will look to keep up the momentum for the tech sector following strong results last week from Microsoft and others.

The Fed's two-day policy meeting is expected to again put off raising interest rates, but it could make clearer how soon a rate hike could come.

AFP