By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday, though energy stocks were up for a second session as crude prices edged higher.
Traders eyed a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting which begins Tuesday for clues on the short-term direction of U.S. interest rates. The Fed will release a statement Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. EDT and a news conference will follow.
"The big news comes (Wednesday) from the Fed and we?ll work our way a bit lower before the announcement. Key points will likely suggest the Fed stays on hold until the middle of next year and that is already baked in," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 3.86 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,035, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 2.31 points, or 0.12 percent, to 1,986.44 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 3.57 points, or 0.08 percent, to 4,522.47.
The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Glimcher Realty
Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Glimcher, Bank of America
Nasdaq's most active included Apple
Advancing issues were outnumbering declining ones on the NYSE by 1,411 to 1,302, for a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,150 issues were rising and 1,113 falling for a 1.03-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.
The broad S&P 500 index was posting 2 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 6 new highs and 45 new lows.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
