By Abhiram Nandakumar
REUTERS - Wall Street was little changed on Monday, two days ahead of an expected U.S. interest rate hike, as crude oil prices hovered near 11-year lows.
The S&P energy sector was down 0.33 percent on Monday on growing concerns that the global oil glut would worsen next year.
The Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday at which it is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
Traders see an 85 percent chance the central bank will lift its target rate range to 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent from the current zero to 0.25 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
"Stocks are relatively quiet this morning, which is somewhat normal, after last week's shellacking," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.
Sarhan said the lack of strong economic data from China or the United States has left investors looking for the next bullish catalyst.
"The big obvious elephant in the room for this week is the Fed," he said.
At 10:01 a.m. ET (1501 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 16.6 points, or 0.1 percent, at 17,248.61, the S&P 500 was down 1.06 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,011.31 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 0.12 points, or -0 percent, at 4,933.35. Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by the materials sector's 1.5 percent fall.
DuPont shares were down 4.3 percent at $67.37 after the company agreed on Friday to merge with Dow Chemical in a $130 billion deal. Dow Chemical was down 4 percent at $51.27.
Apple was down 1.7 percent at $111.23 after Morgan Stanley and Barclays cut their price targets on the stock.
Trina Solar surged 7 percent to $10.22 after the company received a go-private proposal from a group that included its chief executive, valuing the company at more than $980 million.
Jarden was up 3 percent at $54.27 after Newell Rubbermaid said it would buy the maker of Sunbeam kitchen appliances in cash and stock. Newell was down 6.5 percent at $42.55.
GoPro slumped 9.1 percent to $17.41 after Morgan Stanley and Citi cut their ratings and price targets on the stock.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,806 to 1,046. On the Nasdaq, 1,224 issues rose and 1,217 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed no new 52-week highs and 30 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 8 new highs and 89 new lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Aastha Agnihotri; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
