Wall Street flat, Apple hits record high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were barely changed in light volume on Monday as investors waited for signs from central banks about stimulating the weak economy, though Apple's shares hit a record high after a major court victory.

Apple Inc rose 2 percent to $676.56 after the iPad maker won a $1 billion judgment in a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>. Samsung of South Korea said it would contest the verdict. Earlier, Apple hit an all-time high of $680.87.

Investors are looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech to a meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.

Bernanke is likely to keep markets guessing about the timing of another round of bond purchases when he speaks, but he is likely to sustain expectations for action of some kind next month.

Stocks have rallied in recent weeks on growing expectations for a third round of quantitative easing from the Fed, as well as possible action from the European Central Bank. News from Jackson Hole could determine whether the rally that took the S&P index to four-year highs will be sustained.

'Today reflects more what we don't know than what we do know,' said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.

'The debate is intense. There's a question of what Bernanke will say, what will they do and what impact...it will have. Those are all unanswered questions.'

Investors will face other potentially market-moving events in the next few weeks.

The European Central Bank will meet on September 6 and is expected to take some action to support the region's sputtering economy and tackle the debt crisis.

Germany's constitutional court is expected to rule on the legality of the euro zone bailout fund on September 12.

The Dow was down slightly, led by shares of IBM Corp , which agreed to buy Kenexa Corp for $1.3 billion. IBM shares were off 0.9 percent at $195.91.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 4.88 points, or 0.04 percent, at 13,153.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 2.45 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,413.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 8.45 points, or 0.28 percent, at 3,078.24.

The S&P 500 has been unable to stay above the April high of 1,422.38, which is seen as a key resistance point, the index finds support at the 1,400 level.

Trading volume is expected to be extremely light before the Jackson Hole meeting at the end of the week. Many market participants are out before the Labor Day holiday on September 3. Last week's volume was among the lowest of the year.

In merger news, car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings said it would buy smaller rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group for about $2.3 billion, ending years of an on-off takeover battle.

Shares of Hertz climbed 8.7 percent to $14.29 while Dollar Thrifty gained 7.5 percent to $87.05.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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