Stocks Little Changed in Early Trade

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks were little changed in early trading Monday, as investors sat on the sidelines waiting to see where the Federal Reserve might move interest rates next month. Energy stocks fell along with the price of crude oil.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,514 as of 10:09 a.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose a point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,052 and the Nasdaq composite rose 16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,785.

FED WATCH: Several members of the Federal Reserve will be making speeches this week, which may give insight to investors on which way interest rates might move at the Fed's meeting in June. The minutes from the Fed's late April meeting showed that policymakers at the nation's central bank seem to believe the U.S. economy has improved enough to warrant higher interest rates.

Securities that bet on which way the Fed will move interest rates now show a 26 percent chance that interest rates will climb.

SEED CAPITAL: Agricultural products company Monsanto rose $5.79, or 6 percent, to $107.38 after German company Bayer offered to buy the company for $62 billion. The deal would make the combined company the world's largest producer of fertilizers and other agricultural products.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude shed 39 cents to $48.02 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 61 cents to $48.13 per barrel in London. Energy stocksfollowed oil prices lower. Williams Companies dropped 3 percent.

BONDS, CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices didn't move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 1.84 percent. The dollar fell to 109.42 yen from 110.23 yen and the euro fell to $1.1192 from $1.1219.

(KA)