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NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors turned cautious after Moody's warning about the United States' AAA rating ahead of Tuesday's Federal Reserve meeting.
Major averages were mired in negative territory in most time of the session despite economic data showed good signs of recovery in industrial and manufacturing sectors, as Moody's Investors Service warned that the U.S. could see a downgrade of its credit rating.
The dollar rose against its major counterparts after the credit rating agency said the U.S. and Britain moved closer to losing their AAA credit ratings due to their mounting debt burdens, putting pressures on riskier assets including commodities and equities.
The news cast shadows on market sentiment although economic data came in better than expected.
According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. industrial production rose 0.1 percent in February, while economists were expecting a slight drop.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its Empire Manufacturing Survey on Monday, showing a decrease in its business conditions index to 22.86 in March from 24.91 in February. However, the report said new orders jumped sharply and labor markets showed signs of improvement.
Financial stocks, especially big banks were among worst performers before reversing declines in the final hour of the session, as Christopher Dodd, chairman of Senate Banking Committee released a draft bill of broad regulatory changes aimed at preventing another financial crisis.
The proposal plans to give the Federal Reserve more power to regulate all lending transactions of big financial companies. Meanwhile, Fed can also order to break up large financial firms if they pose a threat to the stability of the whole financial system, according to the plan.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 17.46, or 0.16 percent, to 10,642.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up 0.52, or 0. 05 percent, at 1150.51 and the Nasdaq dipped 5.45, or 0.23 percent, to 2,362.21.