Stocks Dip, Await Word From the Fed

US stocks finished an up-and-down day slightly lower as traders look ahead to this week's meeting of the Federal Reserve, reports the AP. Phone companies and health care stocks posted losses Monday, but banks ended modestly higher as traders hoped that higher interest rates would help them make more money from lending. Verizon ended 1% lower, and WebMD slumped 6% after the company said its CEO is leaving. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 3 points, less than 0.1%, at 18,120. It was up as much as 131 points earlier. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was little changed at 2,139. The Nasdaq slipped 9 points, or 0.2%, to 5,235. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.71%. (More New York Stock Exchange stories.)