US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq higher ahead of Fed meet; Dow hit by Boeing, Home Depot

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* Boeing off as FAA says 737 MAX to stay grounded in 2019
* Home Depot falls on weak 2020 sales growth forecast
* Fed decision awaited at 2 p.m. ET
* Dow off 0.17%, S&P 500 up 0.06%, Nasdaq up 0.14%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes held
on to gains on Wednesday as traders awaited the Federal
Reserve's December policy statement for clues on the domestic
economy's strength, while the Dow Jones index was pressured by
losses in Boeing and Home Depot.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep borrowing
costs steady in its policy announcement, due at 2:00 p.m. ET
(1900 GMT). Markets are also awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's
outlook on the economy when he holds a news conference later in
the day.
"As we haven't seen the effect of the three rate cuts that
took place between June and October, the Fed might drop hints
that it will keep policy as is for a while," said David Madden,
market analyst at CMC Markets in London.
Stocks have stalled so far in December after three straight
months of gains, hurt by worries over a delay in the signing of
an interim U.S.-China trade deal and global growth concerns.
U.S. President Donald Trump has just days to decide whether
to impose levies on nearly $160 billion in Chinese goods.
"The cautionary thing is that we've seen these bits of news
and eventually had tariffs raised. So we are definitely not out
of the woods on trade policy," said Scott Brown, chief economist
at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 48.45
points, or 0.17%, at 27,833.27, hit by a 1% drop in shares of
Boeing Co BA.N after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
confirmed it would not allow the grounded 737 MAX to resume
flying before the end of this year. Also dragging the index lower was Home Depot Inc HD.N ,
which fell 2% as the home improvement chain forecast fiscal 2020
sales growth below Wall Street expectations.
In contrast, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 1.95 points, or
0.06%, at 3,134.47 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 12.34
points, or 0.14%, at 8,628.53.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc AEO.N slid 6.2% after the
apparel retailer forecast holiday-quarter profit and comparable
sales below market expectations. Shares of rivals Abercrombie &
Fitch ANF.N , Gap GPS.N and Urban Outfitters URBN.O fell
between 2.5% and 6.6%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.05-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 23 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 73 new highs and 42 new lows.