Wall Street Little Changed as Investors Eye Economic Data

US stocks were little changed on Monday as investors awaited key economic data including the November jobs report this week and kept an eye on policy decisions by the American and European central banks.

Still, the three major indexes were set to end the month higher for the second straight time.

Friday's non-farm payrolls report is in focus ahead of a mid-December meeting of the Federal Reserve. Economists polled by Reuters expect the US economy to have added 200,000 jobs in November.

While the US central bank is likely to raise interest rates for the first time since June 2006, the European Central Bank is expected to unveil fresh monetary easing measures on Thursday.

Other US data expected during the week includes manufacturing and auto sales data for November.

Investors will look for clues regarding the Fed's decision when Chair Janet Yellen speaks on the economic outlook on Wednesday and gives her testimony on the economy before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on Thursday.

"I think the focus will be on Yellen's speeches this week," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"The market has largely priced in a December hike and it would have to take a pretty significant miss with the jobs report to give the Fed some pause before its next meeting."

Traders are pricing in a 78 per cent chance for a rate hike next month, up from 52 per cent in the previous month, according to CME Group's FedWatch.

Data on Monday showed that contracts to buy previously owned US homes rose far less than expected in October, the latest sign that the housing market recovery was losing momentum after strong gains early this year.

At 1445 GMT (8:15 p.m. in India), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 5.31 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 17,793.18, the S&P 500 was down 2.06 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 2,088.05 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 3.14 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 5,124.39.

Five of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher with the energy sector's 0.91 per cent rise leading the advancers. Oil prices rose as investors took positions ahead of an OPEC meeting this week.

US stock indices ended little changed in light volume on Friday, with consumer stocks falling as investors fretted over early reports on the US holiday shopping season and Disney's subscriber losses.

Retail stocks continued to be in focus on Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.

Target shares were down 1.1 per cent at $72.60 after its website faced an outage due to heavy traffic. Data showed that other retailers' website were also affected, including Foot Locker and L Brands's Victoria's Secret. The stocks were down about 1 per cent.

Staples fell 1.1 per cent to $12.17 after the New York Post reported that US antitrust regulators are preparing to block Staples acquisition of smaller rival Office Depot. Office Depot was down 2.1 per cent at $6.61.

Lululemon Athletica was down 6.2 per cent at $49.27 after FBR & Co cut its rating on the Canadian yoga-wear retailer's shares to "underperform" from "market perform", citing concerns about its ability to boost comparable growth.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,686 to 1,199. On the Nasdaq, 1,473 issues rose and 1,172 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 15 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 82 new highs and 24 new lows.