Major US stock indexes ended the session without a single dynamic, as investors could not decide on the direction of movement at the beginning of the trading week, full of important events, such as the announcement of the Fed rate decision, the publication of the July employment report, the trade negotiations between the US and China, and also a new round of corporate reporting.

The Fed will announce its decision on interest rates on Wednesday at 18:00 GMT, after which Central Bank Chairman Jerome Powell will discuss the state of the economy during a press conference scheduled for 18:30 GMT. Investors expect the US central bank to cut rates by 25 basis points for the first time since 2008. The Fed, which seeks to keep inflation at 2%, has experienced growth problems in recent months, despite a healthy economy and low unemployment. This may indicate that the current level of interest rates may be too high, even if it is well below historical norms. Some economists and Fed officials believe that rates should be lowered in the face of slowing US GDP growth and darker growth prospects abroad, as trade wars initiated by Washington continue. Investors will closely monitor the Fed's signals of new rate cuts in the coming months. Economists basically expect one to three rate cuts this year.

US and Chinese officials will meet in Shanghai this week in an attempt by the two largest economies in the world to conclude a trade deal and end their long-standing trade dispute. While investors last week were optimistic about the news of the meeting of negotiators, people close to the negotiations warned that the desire for a deal from the spring had weakened.

In addition, market participants continued to monitor the company's quarterly reports, as the corporate reporting season gained momentum. About 33% of S & P companies must present their results for the second quarter of this week, including Merck (MRK), Procter & Gamble (PG), Apple (AAPL), General Motors (GM) and many others.

Most of the components of DOW recorded an increase (18 out of 30). The top gainers were Johnson & Johnson (JNJ; + 1.87%). Pfizer Inc. shares turned out to be an outsider. (PFE; -3.70%).

Most sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. The largest decline was shown by the financial sector (-0.5%). The consumer goods sector grew the most (+ 0.5%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 27,221.41 +28.96 + 0.11%

S & P 500 3,020.97  -4.89 -0.16%

Nasdaq 100 8,293.33 -36.88 -0.44%

U.S. stock-index futures traded little-changed on Monday, as investors tempered their expectations for this week’s trade talks between Washington and Beijing and prepared for monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

McDonald's (MCD) initiated with a Buy at Goldman; target $250

Starbucks (SBUX) initiated with a Buy at Goldman; target $110

Coca-Cola (KO) initiated with an Overweight at Atlantic Equities; target $62

Starbucks (SBUX) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird; target $98

Starbucks (SBUX) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; target $91

UPS (UPS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

Dow (DOW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup; target lowered to $50

Dow (DOW) downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna; target lowered to $53

Pfizer (PFE) reported Q2 FY 2019 earnings of $0.80 per share (versus $0.77 in Q2 FY 2018), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.75.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $13.264 bln (-1.5% y/y), missing analysts’ consensus estimate of $13.430 bln.

The company also lowered guidance for FY 2019: it projected EPS of $2.76-2.86 (prior $2.83-2.93) versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.91 and revenues of $50.5-52.5 bln (prior $52-54 bln) versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $53.45 bln.

PFE fell to $42.15 (-2.18%) in pre-market trading.

July 29

Before the Open:

Pfizer (PFE). Consensus EPS $0.75, Consensus Revenues $13430.05 mln

July 30

Before the Open:

Altria (MO). Consensus EPS $1.10, Consensus Revenues $5078.34 mln

MasterCard (MA). Consensus EPS $1.83, Consensus Revenues $4082.71 mln

Merck (MRK). Consensus EPS $1.16, Consensus Revenues $10942.58 mln

Procter & Gamble (PG). Consensus EPS $1.05, Consensus Revenues $16865.38 mln

After the Close:

Advanced Micro (AMD). Consensus EPS $0.08, Consensus Revenues $1523.41 mln

Apple (AAPL). Consensus EPS $2.10, Consensus Revenues $53379.47 mln

Baidu (BIDU). Consensus EPS $0.97, Consensus Revenues $3746.80 mln

July 31

Before the Open:

General Electric (GE). Consensus EPS $0.12, Consensus Revenues $28832.79 mln

August 1

Before the Open:

DuPont (DD). Consensus EPS $0.82, Consensus Revenues $5631.25 mln

General Motors (GM). Consensus EPS $1.45, Consensus Revenues $36025.23 mln

Verizon (VZ). Consensus EPS $1.20, Consensus Revenues $32420.40 mln

August 2

Before the Open:

Chevron (CVX). Consensus EPS $1.84, Consensus Revenues $40545.21 mln

Exxon Mobil (XOM). Consensus EPS $0.76, Consensus Revenues $65373.12 mln