U.S. stocks end mixed ahead of Fed meeting

U.S. stocks closed mixed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending its record run to a six straight session, as investors awaited a key monetary policy meeting from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.58 points, or 0.20 percent, to 19,796.43. The S&P 500 fell 2.57 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,256.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 31.96 points, or 0.59 percent, to 5,412.54.

The U.S. central bank will kick off its December policy meeting on Tuesday. Analysts thought that the Fed raising rates seemed a foregone conclusion, but the Federal Open Market Committee may struggle to communicate what it will do next.

According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a December rate hike were 97.2 percent.

U.S. stocks posted best weekly performance last week since the Election Day, as the "Trump-rally" carried on and Wall Street has widely expected that the Fed will raise interest rate in its policy meeting this week.

"After five days that might as well be five weeks of continuous gains for the U.S. equity indices, there is some pressure being placed on the broad marketplace," said Stephen Guilfoyle, the president of Sarge986, Monday.

Overseas, European equities dipped Monday amid continued uncertainty in Italy. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange inched down 0.12 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.92 percent.

In Asia, Chinese stocks tumbled Monday as China's top insurance regulator continued to check the "barbaric" behavior of insurers to control financial risks brought about by speculative stake buyouts. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 2.47 percent to 3,152.97 points. Enditem