Earlier, Speaker John Boehner accused President Obama of dragging his feet on the budget talks, but appeared to remain hopeful that both sides would reach an agreement by year-end.
"We're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the President is willing to make as part of the 'balanced approach' he promised the American people," said Boehner. "Even if we did what the President wants, we would see red ink for as far as the eye can see—that's not fixing our problem either; it's making it worse and it's hurting our economy."
Apple rallied, recovering from recent losses. Earlier, China's cellphone operator Unicom said it received more than 300,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5 in the first week. Separately, the company was mentioned positively at Topeka Capital Markets. The firm said Apple's fundamentals remain strong and expects shares to rebound quickly following the latest selloff.
The tech giant has traded lower for seven of the last 10 sessions and erased more than 7 percent in the last month.
Despite the rebound, market technician Tom McClellan, editorof the McClellan Market Report said the top in Apple has already been seen.
"We're getting a nice pop that's right on schedule thisweek, but there's a lot more damage to come next year – it's not going to be agood time for Apple stock," McClellan noted. "Apple as a company is still great–they're still innovating, doing great things, and will be doing business for along time to come."
The Fed kicks off its two-day policy meeting and economists expect the central bank to announce a new round of Treasury securities purchases when the meeting ends on Wednesday. The program would replace its "Operation Twist" stimulus which expires at the end of the year.
"We've been so hyper-focused on fiscal policy, not monetary policy,that the Fed might not even get front page news tomorrow," said Art Hogan, managingdirector at Lazard Capital Markets. "Most of what is expected is already bakedinto the market, so unless they announce something surprising, don't expectmuch of a reaction."