Stocks End Flat Despite Strong Retail Sales

U.S. stocks finished little changed on Monday despite  stronger-than-expected retail sales data.  The Dow Jones  Industrial Average dropped 26.81 points, or 0.18%, to 15,091.68. The S&P 500 finished up 0.07 point, at 1,633.77. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.21 points, or 0.06%, to 3,438.79.

Federal Reserve officials have mapped out a strategy for winding down an unprecedented $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program meant to spur the economy — an effort to preserve flexibility and manage highly unpredictable market expectations.

Google kicks off its annual I/O developers conference in San Francisco this week, and the new boss of the company’s combined Android and Chrome software teams has indicated that — contrary to some previous rumors — this year’s show will not feature a  combination of the two operating systems.

Nintendo Co, one of the world’s largest makers of video game players, won a U.S. appeals court decision in a patent case that will allow it to keep importing its popular Wii system into the United States.

Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) said on Monday that Chairman Michael Talbert will step down later this year, in a move that comes just days before the culmination of a fight between the offshore driller and investor Carl Icahn in which Talbert was a target.