Markets calm in advance of a busy week in the economy

NEW YORK - Stocks held steady in a calm day of trading Monday, but the storm may be coming.

This upcoming week is full of events that could swing markets: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates, more countries around the world may move to shake up the economic status quo, and several high-profile updates on the U.S. economy are due.

That's all in the near future, though. Monday's calendar was decidedly light, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index flipped between modest gains and losses before closing at 2,373.47, up just 0.87 points, or 0.04 percent. It remains within 1 percent of its record, which was set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.50 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,881.48. The Nasdaq rose 14.06 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,875.78. Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Investors will likely focus more on what Fed Chair Janet Yellen has to say after the announcement than on the rate increase itself, which is expected to be only a quarter of a percentage point.

"What the market is curious about is: How many more rate increases will there be, and what is the primary data that would drive that?" said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.61 percent from 2.58 percent late Friday and is approaching its highest level since 2014. The two-year yield rose to 1.37 percent from 1.35 percent, while the 30-year yield climbed to 3.21 percent from 3.16 percent.

Urban Outfitters had the biggest loss in the S&P 500 after dropping 96 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $24.21. S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday that it will remove the retailer from the S&P 500 index of large stocks and put it in the S&P 400 index of mid-cap stocks, instead.

The dollar largely held steady against its rivals. It dipped to 114.77 Japanese yen from 114.78 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.0660 from $1.0692, and the British pound rose to $1.2231 from $1.2177.

The price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 9 cents to close at $48.40 a barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slipped 2 cents to close at $51.35 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.58 a gallon, heating oil was little changed at $1.50 a gallon and natural gas rose 3.5 cents to $3.043 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $1.70 to settle at $1,203.10 an ounce, silver rose 5 cents to $16.97 an ounce, and copper rose 3 cents to $2.63 a pound.