Investing.com - U.S. stocks ended Monday mixed to lower, with tech shares taking a beating ahead of an Alibaba initial public offering, with investors also jumping to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's Wednesday statement on monetary policy.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow 30 rose 0.26%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.07%, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.07%.
The Volatility S&P 500 index, which measures the outlook for market volatility, was up 6.09% at 14.12.
The Fed will announce its latest decision on interest rates and monetary policy on Wednesday, and markets were hoping for hints as to when benchmark interest rates will rise.
The Fed is also expected to cut its quantitative easing program to $10 billion in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities purchased each month from $15 billion before closing the program in October, though uncertainty as to whether Fed language will hint at when interest rates may rise prompted investors to sell ahead of time, with tech stocks taking the brunt.
Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is due to go public later this week, which fueled the tech-sector selloff as investors jumped to the sidelines to see its reception.
Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) owns a 23% stake in Alibaba.
Elsewhere, investors bought and sold on mixed data.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index increased to a five-year high of 27.5 this month from 14.7 in August. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 16.0 in September.
A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.1% last month, disappointing forecasts for a 0.3% gain. Industrial production for July was revised down to a gain of 0.2% from a previously reported increase of 0.4%.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), up 1.67%, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), up 1.29%, and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), up 1.22%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), down 0.97%, Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), down 0.50%, and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), down 0.40%.
European indices, meanwhile, ended the day largely lower.
After the close of European trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.13%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.29%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.09%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 fell 0.04%.
On Tuesday, the U.S. is to produce data on producer price inflation.