U. S. stocks close nearly unchanged

With the Federal Reserve set to meet Tuesday andWednesday, trading is back to being quiet.

U. S. stocks barely budged Monday, finishing mixed as lower oil prices pulled energy companies down while hotels and travel- related companies rose.

Trading was quiet Monday before the FederalReserve’s meeting thisweek, which is expected to shed some light on the possibility of a future increase in benchmark interest rates.

“Lately ( the market) seems to quiet down ahead of the Fed,” said BlackRock portfolio manager Peter Stournaras.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.82 points to 17,229.13. The S& P 500 lost 2.55 points to 2,019.64. TheNasdaq composite index gained 1.81 points to 4,750.28.

Starwood Hotels jumped after a consortium led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group offered to buy the hotel chain for $ 14 billion. Last year Marriott International agreed to buy Starwood for $ 12.2 billion. Starwood said it will examine the newoffer, and its stock gained $ 5.51 to $ 75.93.

Marriott stock rose $ 2.04, or 3 percent, to $ 70.93. It will get a $ 400million payment if Starwood backs out of their agreement.

The news lifted other travel- related companies. TripAdvisor gained $ 2.84 to $ 66.54 and Expedia rose $ 1.46 to $ 116.39.

The price of oil tumbled after Iran’s oil minister dismissed the idea of a freeze in production over the weekend. U. S. benchmark crude fell $ 1.32, or 3.4 percent, to close at $ 37.18 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 86 cents to $ 39.53 a barrel in London. Southwestern Energy lost 54 cents to $ 7.46 and Chesapeake Energy gave up 32 cents to $ 4.38.

The Federal Reserve will meet Tuesday andWednesday. Investors don’t expect the Fed to raise interest rates, but theywill look closely at its comments on the state of the U. S. and global economies to get clues about possible moves in the future. In December the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade, but it left them unchanged in January.

Drug developer GW Pharmaceuticals more than doubled after it reported positive results from a late- stage study of its drug Epidiolex, an experimental seizure disorder treatment derived froma marijuana extract. The stock surged $ 46.25, or 120 percent, to $ 84.71. Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, which is studying a drug based on synthetic compounds derived from cannabis, climbed $ 12.59, or 149 percent, to $ 21.03.