Wall Street inches up as investors eye Fed meeting

Stocks edged higher on Monday, lifted by forecasts one day ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy making meeting that the Fed will resort once more to some mild quantitative easing.

But Hewlett-Packard Co weighed on the blue-chip Dow index, with shares sliding 8.1 percent to $42.55 after its chief executive resigned following a sexual harassment investigation.

The Fed is widely expected to renew its vow to keep rates near zero for an extended period, but markets will watch closely to see if Fed officials are growing more concerned the recovery is at risk or that there is a danger of entering a vicious cycle of falling prices and slowing growth.

Today's trade is all about anticipation of tomorrow. The main question is, 'Will the Fed throw the another quantitative easing bombshell?' and according to that, people are either buying or waiting on the sidelines, said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 20.36 points, or 0.19 percent, at 10,673.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 1.66 points, or 0.15 percent, at 1,123.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 7.15 points, or 0.31 percent, at 2,295.62.

HP CEO Mark Hurd quit on Friday after an investigation found he had falsified expense reports to conceal a close personal relationship with a female contractor.

Apple Inc said the executive in charge of engineering for its iPhone has left in the wake of complaints over poor reception on the latest version of company's smartphone. Apple shares gained 0.1 percent to $260.34.

Shares of Research in Motion Ltd gained 2.3 percent to $54.70 after a Saudi official said the BlackBerry maker and Saudi mobile firms were testing three servers to send communications and data through Saudi Arabia before Canada to address Riyadh's concerns over security.

Goldman Sachs raised its per-share forecast for S&P 500 2010 earnings to $81 from $78, citing strong second-quarter results.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)