Wait and See: Stocks Steady at Beginning of Jam-Packed Week

Stocks held steady in a calm day of trading Monday, but the storm may be coming.

This upcoming week is full of events that could swing markets: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates, more countries around the world may move to shake up the economic status quo and several high-profile updates on the U.S. economy are due.

That’s all in the near future, though. Monday’s calendar was decidedly light, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index flipped between modest gains and losses before closing at 2,373.47, up just 0.87 points, just 0.04 percent. It remains within 1 percent of its record, which was set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.50 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,881.48. The Nasdaq rose 14.06 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,875.78. Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

In such a hectic week, one event still stands out from the rest: the Federal Reserve’s meeting on interest rates, which begins Tuesday and ends Wednesday. Most investors expect the Fed to raise rates for only the third time since they went to nearly zero during the financial crisis in 2008.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.61 percent from 2.58 percent late Friday and is approaching its highest level since 2014. The two-year yield rose to 1.37 percent from 1.35 percent, while the 30-year yield climbed to 3.21 percent from 3.16 percent.

The Fed isn’t the only central bank meeting on interest rates this week. So are the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and others around the world.

Many economists expect the Bank of England to hold steady, but another action in London could garner more attention. The government could formally begin the process of exiting the European Union. The U.K. voted to leave the union last summer, one of a growing number of populations around the world trying to throw off the status quo.

The Netherlands has its own election this week, where politicians have also railed against the European Union and immigrants. Later this year, elections will occur in France and Germany.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent and Germany’s DAX rose 0.2 percent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index rose 0.1 percent, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.1 percent.

Mobileye, an Israeli autonomous-driving company, surged after it agreed to sell itself to Intel for $63.54 per share in cash. Its U.S.-listed shares rose $13.35, or 28.2 percent, to $60.62. Intel slipped 75 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $35.16.

The dollar largely held steady against its rivals. It dipped to 114.77 Japanese yen from 114.78 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.0660 from $1.0692, and the British pound rose to $1.2231 from $1.2177.

The price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 9 cents to close at $48.40 a barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slipped 2 cents to close at $51.35 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.58 a gallon, heating oil was little changed at $1.50 a gallon and natural gas rose 3.5 cents to $3.043 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $1.70 to settle at $1,203.10 an ounce, silver rose 5 cents to $16.97 an ounce and copper rose 3 cents to $2.63 a pound.