U.S. stocks slipped Monday as investors prepared for a busy week set to include a meeting of the Federal Reserve and key political tests in Europe. The Fed is widely expected to raise borrowing costs Wednesday for the first time this year, with Fed-fund futures tracked by CME Group pointing to a roughly 95% chance of a rate rise. Analysts said they would be focused on signals from the Fed on how aggressively it would move to hike rates later this year. "It's the calm before the storm," said David Lafferty, chief market strategist at Natixis Global Asset Management. "The market is still coalesced around three tightening’s this year, but there's certainly room for four," he said. Healthcare was the worst-performing sector of the S&P 500, slipping 0.4% as investors awaited the release of a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican bill to replace Obamacare. The U.S. gold price was also slightly lower for the day finishing down 0.1% at 1,203.70US$/oz.
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