Charting the Markets: Countdown to Fed Decision

Global stocks are little changed as investors await the culmination of the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting. China's Shanghai Composite Index rebounded from a loss of 4 percent to finish the session 0.5 percent lower, taking the gauge to the lowest since December 2014. Apple isn't immune to China's troubles. The world's biggest company is beginning to see "economic softness" in Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple also projected its first quarterly sales decline since 2003.

The dollar's prospects likely rest on the wording of the Fed's policy statement. Since the U.S. central bank raised interest rates on Dec.16 for the first time in almost a decade, a Bloomberg gauge tracking the dollar against 10 of its leading global peers has risen 1.5 percent, touching a record high on Friday. Those gains have been fueled in part by indications from the Fed that there will be four rate hikes in 2016. Investors are watching for any deviation from that plan. Traders have been more dovish than the Fed, pricing in roughly one rate increase this year. At the end of December the odds of a March move were 51 percent. Fed fund futures now put the probability at 25 percent.