STOCKS CLIMB AHEAD OF HISTORIC FED DAY: Here's What You Need To Know

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,522.8, +28.0, +0.1%
• S&P 500: 1,704.0, +6.4, +0.3%
• NASDAQ: 3,744.9, +27.0, +0.7%

And now the top stories:

• The economic data was pretty light and uneventful today ahead of tomorrow's big Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement, which is when economists expect the Fed to announce the tapering of its massive stimulative bond-buying program.
• The consumer price index climbed by just 0.1% in August. Excluding food and energy, prices climbed by 0.1%. Both measure were a bit lower than economists' expectations.
• "Inflation pressures remain fairly tame at present, but the trend is drifting moderately higher," said Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna. "This should give monetary policymakers, who convene for their two-day FOMC meeting today, greater confidence that the inflation soft-patch in H1 was indeed transitory. As a result, some fence-sitting participants may feel marginally more comfortable proceeding with a mini-taper of quantitative easing."
• The NAHB's housing market index was unchanged at 58 in August. In other words, homebuilder sentiment continues to sit at its highest level since November 2005. "Today's data bode well for August housing starts (0.900M forecast vs. 0.896M previous) which are reported tomorrow morning," added Deutsche Bank's LaVorgna.
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