By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stocks on Wall Street were mixed on Monday as a result of growing expectations that the Federal Reserve would not start reducing its monetary stimulus until at least the first quarter of next year.
In morning trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was off 0.1 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4 percent lower.
With uncertainty over the raising of Washington’s borrowing limit temporarily resolved, investors have focused on other matters, notably when the Federal Reserve will reduce its mammoth monetary stimulus that has been a boon for stock markets.
American hiring and durable goods orders for September were weaker than expected, signaling that growth momentum might be slowing and reinforcing expectations that a scaling back of stimulus, known as tapering, would not begin until next year, Mitul Kotecha of Crédit Agricole in Hong Kong said in a market commentary.
Further data releases on the United States economy this week, including September industrial production, retail sales, inflation and consumer confidence, as well as a Fed policy meeting, could reaffirm that expectation, he said. The Fed is buying $85 billion of government bonds and other securities each month with the aim of keeping interest rates low to support economic recovery….