NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The Dow Jones industrial average inched closer to a record high Monday, while the broader market struggled, as jitters about Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy meeting overshadowed falling oil prices and merger news.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 6.80 to 11,584.54, Charts) added a few points. The blue-chip average stands within 140 points of its all-time high of 11,722.98, where it closed on Jan. 14, 2000.

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The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 1.10 to 1,324.66, Charts) index ended just below unchanged, after finishing Friday at a more than five-year high. The Nasdaq composite (up 2.42 to 2,344.99, Charts) added a few points.

After the close, Dell warned that first-quarter earnings will miss forecasts as a result of the PC-maker cutting prices to boost revenue growth. The company also said first-quarter revenue growth will hit the low end of its previous forecast.

Dell (Research) shares lost around 6 percent in extended-hours trading and were likely to be active Tuesday morning.

Tuesday also brings the March report on wholesale inventories, but it is not usually a market mover.

As of 6 p.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a flat open for stocks, when fair value is taken into account.

All three major gauges had stuck to a tight range throughout Monday's session, as investors geared up for the Fed meeting and continued to digest Friday's steep rally.

Friday's advance stemmed from a weak April jobs report that fanned hopes that the Fed's 22-month long interest-rate hiking campaign can soon end.

However, investors were unwilling to move much Monday.

"The volume has been anemic and we've been floundering throughout the day," said Robert Philips, president and chief investment officer at Walnut Asset Management. "But after Friday's big move, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

Investors are likely to remain cautious for the next few days, ahead of the Fed meeting, he added.

Tech leader Cisco reports earnings after the close of trade Tuesday, and there are some economic reports due after the Fed announcement Wednesday, said John Forelli, portfolio manager at Independence Investments. But the Fed news is the biggest market event of the week, if not the month, he noted.

Oil for June delivery slipped another 42 cents to settle at $69.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling on bets that tensions are easing over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The price of oil had dipped even more in the early afternoon.

The decline came after crude sank about 6 percent last week on news of a surprising buildup in inventories.

In merger news, Wachovia said over the weekend that it is buying fellow bank Golden West Financial for $25.5 billion in cash and stock.

Wachovia (down $3.97 to $55.42, Research) shares lost 6.7 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade as analysts questioned how good a value the deal is for the bank.

Golden West (up $4.39 to $74.90, Research) shares added 6.2 percent.

Scientific and lab gear maker Thermo Electron said it was buying larger rival Fisher Scientific International for $10.6 billion in stock. Thermo (down $0.91 to $38.54, Research) shares fell 2.3 percent and Fisher (up $2.22 to $75.95, Research) shares gained 3 percent.

Nickel and copper producer Inco (up $8.01 to $67.09, Research) jumped 13.6 percent after it received an unsolicited $16 billion buyout offer from Canadian zinc miner Teck Cominco. The deal is dependent on Inco giving up its $10.6 billion offer for fellow metals producer Falconbridge (up $2.60 to $45.23, Research).

Other metals companies rose, including Alcan (up $2.05 to $56.05, Research) and Dow component Alcoa (up $1.02 to $36.12, Research).

Intel (up $0.60 to $20.11, Research) rose over 3 percent. On Sunday, the chipmaker branded its new chips for laptop and desktop computers "Core 2 Duo," in an attempt to revive interest in the face of rough competition from Advanced Micro Devices (down $0.48 to $33.95, Research).

On Monday, American Technology Research and Caris Co. both upgraded the chip leader.

Apple Computer (unchanged at $71.89, Research) ended the session unchanged, giving back gains after the company won a trademark dispute versus Apple Corps, which represents the Beatles' commercial interests. The deal allows Apple to keep using its fruit logo to sell music through its iTunes store. It could also clear the way for Apple to sell Beatles songs through iTunes for the first time.

Gold stocks slumped along with the price of the raw commodity. The Amex Gold Bugs (down $3.97 to $376.12, Research) index lost 1 percent.

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners and losers were narrowly mixed on volume of 1.55 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers by eight to seven on volume of 1.76 billion shares.

The Federal Reserve, meeting Wednesday, is widely expected to boost the fed funds rate, a key overnight lending rate, by a quarter-percentage point to 5 percent. That would mark the 16th consecutive rate hike since the central bank began its rate-hiking campaign in June 2004.

What's more in question is what the central bankers imply about future rate policy in the accompanying statement. Investors will be particularly focused on whether they hint about a pause as soon as the next meeting, which runs June 28 through 29.

"People are hoping that they'll say something in the statement to hint that they are going to take a pause in June, but I don't think they're going to say much at all," Forelli said.

He added that the bankers are likely to keep the language similar to the March statement, in which they vowed to be dependent on the data to make decisions about future rate policy.

Ahead of it, Treasury prices edged lower, boosting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 5.11 percent from 5.10 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar declined versus other major currencies.

COMEX gold for June delivery fell $4.50 to settle at $679.80 an ounce.

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