The Dow Jones industrial average added 9.99 points, closing at 5,699.44. The blue-chip barometer had meandered almost unchanged through the session after surrendering an early 15-point gain.
Advancers led decliners by nearly a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,260 up, 1,068 down and 848 unchanged. NYSE volume was 293.93 million shares, vs. 330.71 million Friday.
The NYSE's composite index rose 0.68 to 356.64, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 1.37 to 666.58. The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.74 to 1,130.91, and the American Stock Exchange index rose 1.46 to 557.60.
"It's an August Monday. Things have become very quiet," said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities.
Stocks were pressured all session by rising interest rates in the bond market, where the yield on the 30-year Treasury - a key determinant of corporate and consumer borrowing costs - rose to 6.80 percent, up from late Friday's 6.76 percent.
Otherwise, there were few developments to steer trading, and little incentive to bid the market higher before tomorrow's Federal Reserve meeting.
The recent stream of mild readings on economic growth has calmed most of the inflation worries that plagued the financial markets in July, leaving most analysts convinced that the Fed's policy makers won't raise the central bank's key lending rates to slow borrowing and spending.