Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Boeing (BA), 3M (MMM), UnitedHealth (UNH) and United Technologies (UTX). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Monday the Dow closed up +118.72 (+0.77%) at 15,494.78.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +18.24%..

This morning the Dow was indicated to open up +25 points.

The Federal Reserve begins its two day meeting today, and investors are expecting to see the bank begin to taper its stimulus program by $10 to $15 billion and maintain current interest rates. The Fed has been buying bonds and other securities worth $85 billion per month. The Fed is also expected to reiterate its forward guidance, with a 6.5 percent unemployment threshold. Besides the size of the taper, investors will also be focused on the bank’s forecast of interest rates in 2016 as it will provide insight into the pace of future rate increases.

Verizon (VZ) was upgraded to “Outperform” from “Sector Perform” at RBC Capital.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares are higher after the company boosted its dividend by 22% and announced a $40 billion share buyback plan.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) shares are higher following reports that the bank is set to pay at least $700 million in fines in connection with the “London Whale” trading debacle.

European markets are lower and Asian markets ended lower.

The national average price of gasoline is down five-tenths of a cent to $3.512 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

There are no Dow stocks expected to report earnings soon.

Earnings reports from Monday include:

Cvent, Inc. (CVT) reported second quarter EPS of $0.04 on revenue of $26.90 million, compared to expected EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $26.80 million.

Other stocks expected to report earnings today include:

Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE) is expected to report EPS of $0.34 on revenue of $1.01 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.58 on revenue of $1.08 billion.

Tower Group, Inc. (TWGP) is expected to report a loss of $0.52 per share on revenue of $421.10 million, compared to last year’s loss of $0.34 per share on revenue of $417.61 million.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

General Electric Co. (GE).

General Electric Co. (GE) is up 15.01% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0815 ET U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew speaks at the Economic Club of Washington on The state of the U.S. economy and the need for Washington to avoid self-inflicted wounds that could impede economic growth.

0830 ET Aug CPI expected +0.2% m/m and +1.6% y/y, July +0.2% m/m and +2.0% y/y. Aug CPI ex food & energy expected +0.1% m/m and +1.8% y/y, July +0.2% m/m and +1.7% y/y.

1000 ET Sep NAHB housing market index expected -1 to 58, Aug +3 to 59.

1000 ET CBO releases federal budget outlook.

1030 ET FOMC begins 2-day meeting.

1630 ET API weekly U.S. oil statistics.