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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid data, earnings

Xinhua, October 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks closed mixed after wavering in a tight range Monday, as Wall Street digested quarterly earnings and economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.65 points, or 0.13 percent, to 17,623.05. The S&P 500 lost 3.97 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,071.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 2.84 points, or 0.06 percent, to 5,034.70.

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.

"New home sales have struggled to find solid upward momentum this year, but September's fall is likely just a bump in the road and not a sign of overall weakness in the housing market," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.

On corporate news, shares of Xerox Corp. declined 3.0 percent to 10.03 U.S. dollars apiece 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 dollars in revenues, compared with earnings of 22 cents per share on 4.8 billion dollars in revenues a year ago.

The behemoth Apple Inc. will post its quarterly results after Tuesday's closing bell. Shares of the tech giant tumbled 3.19 percent to 115.28 dollars apiece Monday as some clues indicated the company's quarterly earnings may come out weaker-than-expected.

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. Endit