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Roundup: U.S. stocks slide ahead of Fed meeting

Xinhua, April 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks reversed early gains to end lower on Monday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index snapping a five-day winning streak, as investors were awaiting the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting which is expected to start Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42.17 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,037.97. The S&P 500 lost 8.77 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,108.92. The Nasdaq was down 31.84 points, or 0.63 percent, to 5,060.25.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an updated policy statement slating for release after the conclusion of the meeting.

Some analysts expected that the Fed will not raise interest rates until September at the earliest, because of the recent string of weak data.

After Monday's closing bell, Apple Inc. reported better-than- expected financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended Dec. 27, 2014. The tech giant posted record quarterly revenue of 74.6 billion U.S. dollars and record quarterly net profit of 18 billion dollars, or 3.06 dollars per diluted share. Its shares continued to rise in extended-hours trading after closing 1.82 percent higher in the session.

Overseas, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled the team of negotiators with international lenders on the resolution of the debt crisis, which was announced on Monday.

The move comes after the latest episode in Riga on Friday of a two-month public "verbal war" between Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and European officials.

European equities posted solid gains following the Greece news, with the French benchmark index CAC 40 gaining 1.30 percent on Monday.

On the economic front, financial data firm Markit reported Monday that its flash reading of Purchasing Managers Index for the services sector slipped to 57.8 in April from a final reading of 59.2 in March.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index refreshing their record closing highs, as major earnings reports came out generally positive.

The Nasdaq set a new closing record for the first time in 15 years on Thursday, fueled by surges from tech corporations.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 6.75 percent to end at 13.12 Monday.

In other markets, oil prices edged down Monday as global crude supply surpasses the demand.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery moved down 16 cents to settle at 56.99 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. While Brent crude for June delivery lost 45 cents to close at 64.83 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar declined against most major currencies on Monday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Fed meeting.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.0890 dollars from 1.0867 dollars in the previous session, while the greenback bought 119.08 Japanese yen, higher than 118.87 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange surged on Monday as short covering gave support to the precious metal.

The most active gold contract for June delivery rose 28.2 dollars, or 2.40 percent, to settle at 1,203.20 dollars per ounce. Endite