Stocks Opened Mixed ahead of Fed Speakers

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Monday, with investors taking a tentative stance ahead of speeches from another round of Federal Reserve officials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 16.09 points, or 0.10%, to 15,435.00. The S&P 500 index fell 4.56 points, or 0.27%, to 1,705.35. The Nasdaq Composite gained 3.76 points, or 0.10%, to 3,778.49.

The euphoria with which investors in the U.S. stock market greeted the Federal Reserve’s decision to stick with its easy-money policy has begun to evaporate, as the message the Fed was sending about a less-than-stellar economy sinks in.

Apple Inc (NSQ: AAPL) said it sold 9 million iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models in the first three days after their launch on Friday.

Citigroup Inc. (C) shares fell 2% in premarket after a report in the Financial Times late Sunday that the investment bank has suffered a sharp drop in trading revenue owing to a worse-than-expected slowdown in markets business over the summer.

President Obama says he won’t negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling; says their plan threatens to plunge U.S. back into recession. The Market Economics preliminary index of U.S. manufacturing fell to 52.8 in September from a final reading of 53.1  at the end of last month, the London-based group said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 20 economists called for an increase to 54, with estimates ranging from 50.7 to 56.