With Fed rate decision looming, stocks head lower

New York (AP) — The U.S. stock market drifted lower Monday ahead of a much-anticipated Federal Reserve meeting later this week. More signs of slowing economic growth in China weighed on prices for copper and other commodities, driving stocks of material producers down. Oil and gas companies fell along with the price of crude oil.

Keeping score: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,950 as of 12:10 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 82 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,351, and the Nasdaq composite declined 27 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,795.

The view: "More than anything, we're seeing this back and forth movement of uncertainty," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for the Commonwealth Financial Network. "Everybody is waiting to see what happens when and if the Fed raises rates."

Waiting Game: Until recently, many in the markets speculated that the Fed would raise its benchmark interest rate at the end of its two-day meeting on Thursday. Now, opinions are split. Some analysts suggest China's slower economy and turbulence in the financial markets might prompt the Fed to postpone raising rates for the first time since 2006. But the Fed's deputy chairman, Stanley Fischer, recently said he saw a "pretty strong case" for raising rates.

Gadgets: Apple's reported strong demand for its latest iPhones, driving its stock up. The tech giant said that sales of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s plus are on track to beat the tally from last year, when it sold a record 10 million new large-screen iPhones during the first weekend. Apple climbed $1.32, or 1 percent, to $115.53.

Plunge: Raptor Pharmaceuticals dropped 36 percent after the drug developer said it may scrap development of a liver disease treatment because it failed to pass a key test. The company's stock slumped $4.26 to $7.76.

Across the Atlantic: In Europe, Germany's DAX closed with a gain of 0.1 percent while France's CAC-40 lost 0.7 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares slipped 0.5 percent.

China: Two economic reports out Sunday rekindled concerns over China's economic slowdown. Factory output and investment grew at a slower pace than forecast. China's main stock index, the Shanghai Composite, took another hard fall on Monday, dropping 2.7 percent

Asia's day: Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.6 percent, and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent.

Oil watch: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 74 cents to $43.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, an international benchmark, declined $1.21 to $48.68 a barrel in London.

Bonds & currencies: Prices for U.S. government bonds rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 2.17 percent from 2.19 percent late Friday. The euro was 0.2 percent lower at $1.1315 and the dollar fell 0.6 percent to 119.89 yen.

By Matthew Craft, AP Business Writer. Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – September 14, 2015 @ 12:20pm.