: U.S. stocks eke out gains ahead of closely-watched central bank policy decisions

U.S. stock indexes eked out slight gains in volatile trade on Monday as investors looked ahead to a busy week of central bank action including interest-rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan. Traders were pricing in a 99% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged at a range of 5.25%-5.50% on Wednesday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Meanwhile, the chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike to a range of 5.50%-5.75% at the subsequent meeting in November is priced at 30%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was up 6 points, leaving it nearly flat at 34,624, while the S&P 500 SPX finished less than 0.1% higher and the Nasdaq Composite COMP ended flat, according to FactSet data. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures for October delivery CL00CL.1CLV23 rose 0.8% to finish at $91.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest finish for the front-month contract since November, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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