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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures are little changed, as the Federal Reserve begins its two-day meeting. A government report out Tuesday said the pace of new home construction eased slightly last month.
KEEPING SCORE: Thirty minutes before the start of regular trading, Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 30 points to 16,671. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up three points to 1,926, while Nasdaq 100 futures are two points lower at 3,770.
Investors nudged the stock market to slight gains Monday, thanks in part to another round of corporate deals.
HOUSING: The Commerce Department said builders started work at an annual rate on 1.01 million homes in May. That was down 6.5 percent from 1.07 million in April.
FED: The central bank meets Tuesday and Wednesday with Fed officials widely expected to keep a key short-term rate near zero. Economists don't expect the Fed to begin increasing that rate for another year.
The Fed will also update its economic forecasts. That could result in the Fed trimming its estimate of 2014 growth after the government said last month that the economy shrank in the first three months of the year.
OIL: The price of crude fell 47 cents to $106.43 a barrel. The U.S. said it was deploying a small group of troops to Iraq, helping to ease concerns that a conflict could disrupt exports from OPEC's No. 2 oil producer. Those concerns have been behind crude oil's nearly 4 percent rise this month.
BONDS: The price of government bonds slipped, pushing Treasury yields up. The yield on the 10-year note rose to 2.63 percent from 2.60 late Monday.
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