Stocks Edged Higher as Fed Meet Eyed

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Monday, as investors brace for a widely expected rate hike and crude prices flirted with their 11-year lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately gained 7.59 points or 0.04%, to 17,272.80. The S&P 500 rose 2.96 points or 0.15%, to 2,015.33. The Nasdaq Composite added 5.85 points or 0.12%, to 4,939.32.

Oil prices fell for a seventh straight session on Monday, coming close to their 11-year lows, on growing fears that the global oil glut would worsen in the months to come in a pricing war between key producers. Brent crude fell by 3.4 percent to below $37 a barrel for the first time since December 2008 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate sank 2.5 percent below $35 a barrel.

Newell Rubbermaid is buying Jarden Corp. in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $13.2 billion. The combined company will generate a mammoth $16 billion in revenue per year with brands such as Paper Mate, Sharpie, Elmer’s, Rubbermaid, Calphalon, Lenox, Yankee Candle and Graco.

Oil-and-gas producer Encana Corp. on Monday trimmed its annual dividend by a penny and cut its 2016 capital budget by about 25% from 2015 levels amid a continued slump in oil prices.