By Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks nudged higher on Monday,
showing relatively muted action after Friday's big gains, as
investors waited on speeches from three Federal Reserve officials
that could provide policy clues.
The S&P 500(SPX) was last up 4 points, or 0.2%, to 1,810,
while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 21 points, or
0.1%, to 16,041. The Nasdaq Composite(RIXF) rose 17 points, or
0.4%, to 4,080.
It's the last-chance saloon for the Fed if the central bank
wants to send a coordinated message to the markets about a tapering
of its bond-buying program. Fed officials will stop talking on
Tuesday until after their Dec. 17-18 policy-setting meeting.
"There's some speculation that these three wise men could
between them provide a consensus view as to how the FOMC will act
next week, as the need to manage this message correctly is hugely
important in maintaining an orderly market," said analysts at Monex
Capital Markets, in a note. "However the jury is still out as to
whether announcing the tapering so late in the year amidst falling
volumes would lead to something of a nightmare before
Christmas."
On Friday, stocks rallied sharply on a stronger-than-expected
jobs report. The S&P 500 and Dow broke five-session losing
streaks and reconquered respective milestones of 1,800 and
16,000.
Check out MarketWatch's live blog of Monday's stock-market
action.
* Today's market-moving news: Richmond Fed President Jeffrey
Lacker will speak at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. He will be followed
by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard at 1:05 p.m. Eastern.
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher will speak twice Monday -- at
2:15 p.m at an agricultural conference in Chicago at 6 p.m. on
CNBC. Read more: Fed to get last chance to send message.
* Today's movers & shakers: McDonald's was down 1.1% after
the fast-food giant reported mixed November same-store sales, with
U.S. sales down 0.8%. Shares of Given Imaging Ltd. surged 25% after
medical-devices maker Covidien PLC said Sunday it will buy the
maker of PillCam, a swallowed-capsule endoscope, for $30 a share in
cash or about $860 million. Covidien gained 0.5%. Read more in the
Movers & Shakers column.
* Other markets:Asian stocks closed higher after encouraging
Chinese trade data, while European equities were also mostly up.
Gold rose, while oil edged down.
* The buzz: The chances are good that small caps will outperform
large caps this month, says a strategist quoted in MarketWatch's
latest Need To Know column. Meanwhile, MarketWatch columnist Jeff
Reeves says don't put any new money into housing stocks,
particularly homebuilders.
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