Stocks trade flat ahead of Fed, economic data later this week

Apple is Dialog’s biggest customer.

The main U.S. stock gauge remains on the path toward its best month since 2011, led by commodities producers, industrial and technology shares, the very groups that fuelled the August selloff amid worries that a slowdown in China would hamper a global economic expansion.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.4 percent at 1,484.52 points at the close, after rising 1.95 percent in the previous session.

Among the top Nasdaq gainers, shares of Ctrip.com were up 22.1 percent at US$90.78 after the online travel firm said it would merge with Qunar Cayman Islands.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,653.78, up 7.08 points (0.04 percent).

“We’re in that kind of a malaise where we don’t go down, but we’ve made such big moves no one needs to bid stocks higher”. The S&P 500 slipped 3.97, or 0.2%, to 2071.18, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1% to 5034.70.

Ford Motor Co. and Apple Inc. are among more than 160 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings this week.

About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 7.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Xerox fell 3.0 percent as it reported a loss of $34 million in the third quarter and announced it would undertake a review of the company’s business portfolio and capital allocation options.

Equities were also boosted Friday after China cut interest rates for the sixth time in a year. The probability of a rate increase this month is now only 6 per cent, and about 36 per cent for December. The Fed left interest rates untouched in September, which helped set off a rally that pulled stocks out of the red for 2015. The European Central Bank indicated that additional quantitative easing is on the table.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals worldwide lost 5.3%.

Wall Street opened lower on Monday ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting later this week. Investors weren’t mollified after company executives and board members took to a conference call to mount a defense of the Valeant’s arrangement to sell medications through mail-order pharmacy Philidor RX Services, a practice that a short-seller last week said pumped up Valeant’s revenue. Duke dropped 2.1 percent.

The S&P energy sector fell 2.5 percent, leading sector declines for the S&P 500.

The Dow and the S&P 500 edged lower on Monday as energy shares dropped with oil prices and Apple retreated a day before its quarterly results. Other reports this week include Pfizer and ExxonMobil.

European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-giving-back-gains-after-reaching-two-month-high- 2015-10-26) gave back early gains and closed lower. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Lackluster housing data didn’t do the bulls any favors, and energy also weighed on sentiment as crude oil churned lower, offsetting an exciting day on the M&A front.