US stocks end mixed

Investors put off major buying decisions today, leaving stocks mixed as Wall Street awaited the results of the first Federal Reserve rate-setting meeting chaired by Ben Bernanke.

“We’ve had a pretty good run here in anticipation that the Fed is nearly done raising interest rates,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“But we have a real unknown quantity in Ben Bernanke … so everyone is on Fed watch.”

The Fed Open Market Committee under Bernanke is widely expected to follow the policy of former Chairman Alan Greenspan and announce a rate increase at the end of its two-day meeting on Tuesday.

That would boost short-term rates one-quarter point to 4.75%.

Ahead of the announcement, the markets turned in a lacklustre performance today.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 29.86, or 0.3 percent, to 11,250.11.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which seesawed through the day, ended down 1.34, or 0.1%, at 1,301.61. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 2.76, or 0.1%, to 2,315.58.