Major U.S. stock-indexes little changed but looked set to end the month on a positive note as investors braced for a week of heavy economic data culminating in the November jobs report. Investors are awaiting Friday's non-farm payrolls report ahead of a mid-December meeting of the Federal Reserve. While the U.S. central bank is likely to raise interest rates for the first time since June 2006, the European Central Bank is expected to unveil fresh monetary easing measures on Thursday. Other U.S. data expected during the week includes manufacturing and auto sales data for November.

Most of Dow stocks in negative area (18 of 30). Top looser - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT, -1.26%). Top gainer - Caterpillar Inc. (CAT. +1.73%).

S&P indexes mixed. Top looser - Conglomerates (-1.0%). Top gainer - Basic Materials (+0,7%).

At the moment:

Dow 17769.00 -32.00 -0.18%

S&P 500 2086.25 -3.75 -0.18%

Nasdaq 100 4674.75 -7.75 -0.17%

Oil 42.27 +0.56 +1.34%

Gold 1062.00 +5.80 +0.55%

U.S. 10yr 2.22 -0.01