By Tanya Agrawal
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks looked set to open lower on Monday as a dip in oil prices, underwhelming earnings and the impending U.S. Federal Reserve meeting prompted investors to pull back from risky assets.
The central bank's policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, but may tweak their description of the economic outlook to reflect more benign conditions that leave the path open for future rate rises.
Traders are also keeping an eye on the outcome of a Bank of Japan meeting on Thursday, with expectations that Japan could push deeper into negative interest rate territory.
Oil prices slipped on Monday and added to the pressure, as traders took profits after three weeks of gains and as a jump in the dollar late last week was priced into fuel markets. [O/R]
"We are looking at a mixed to lower session today as investors assess events that could cause some gyrations," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.
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The stock market is on one of its longest bull runs, with the S&P 500 about 2 percent away from its all-time high.
"Investors have a lot to digest this week with the Fed meeting, oil prices and earnings, which could lead to higher market volatility and uncertainties," Cardillo said.
Investors have been assessing first-quarter earnings, which are expected to decline 7.1 percent. Still, of the 132 S&P companies that have reported so far, 77 percent have beat expectations, above the long-term average of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.
On Friday, Wall Street finished flat after disappointing quarterly reports from Microsoft
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The Commerce Department is expected to report that new home sales increased 1 percent to an annualized rate of 520,000 units in March, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The data is expected at 10 a.m. ET.
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(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Additional reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan; Editing by Don Sebastian)