Stocks Flat Ahead of Fed Meeting

U.S. stocks ended little changed on Monday ahead of the two-day FOMC meeting which begins tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1.35 points, or 0.01%, at 15,568.93. The S&P 500 rose 2.34 points, or 0.13%, 1,762.11, while The Nasdaq Composite was down 3.23 points, or 0.08%, at 3,940.13.

Pending home sales declined in September for the fourth month in a row, a signal to expect lower home sales this quarter and a flat trend going into next year, a trade group said Monday.

J.C. Penney Co.(JCP) shares rose 7.2% on Monday after Chief Executive Mike Ullman reportedly said at trade publication WWD’s CEO Summit that he still expects Penney to return to positive same-store sales coming out of the third quarter.

McDonald’s move to drop Heinz as its ketchup vendor won’t change operations much in the United States, where the chain had already squeezed Heinz out of nearly every market. Except two.