U.S. stocks fluctuate narrowly ahead of Fed meeting

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower around midday Monday, as Wall Street was digesting quarterly earnings and economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.29 points, or 0.15 percent, to 17,620.41. The S&P 500 decreased 5.17 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,069.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 0.90 point, or 0.02 percent, to 5,030.96.

U.S. sales of new single-family houses in September 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, well below market consensus of 549,000, according to the Commerce Department Monday.

This is 11.5 percent below the revised August rate of 529,000, but is 2.0 percent above the September 2014 estimate of 459,000.

On corporate news, shares of Xerox Corp. fell about 2 percent around midday Monday after the company delivered quarterly earnings above estimates but revenues shy of forecast.

The U.S. printer maker reported third-quarter 2015 earnings of 4 cents per share on 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, compared with earnings of 22 cents per share on 4.8 billion dollars in revenues a year ago.

Meanwhile, investors also keep a close eye on the Fed's two-day policy meeting scheduled to begin Tuesday. Some analysts expect that the Fed will start its first interest rate hike in almost nine years in December if the economy does not slow significantly.

On Friday, U.S. stocks surged as the interest rate cut by China's central bank and the release of strong quarterly results from three tech giants ignited investor enthusiasm.

All three major indices witnessed solid gains last week, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surging 2.5 percent, 2.1 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. Endit