NEW YORK -- Investors turned cautious Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates.

Major stock indexes closed narrowly mixed after trading lower for most of the day. An analyst upgrade of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average by about 18 points to its fifth straight gain.

Investors will be looking to the Fed's statement that follows its meeting Tuesday for clues about the economic recovery and the central bank's plans for interest rates. Policymakers are almost certain to keep the Fed's benchmark rate unchanged at near zero.

While investors have been factoring in an eventual rate hike, any signs that the move will be made sooner rather than later could hurt stocks.

"The market is hoping that they will give us some sort of timeline as to when they will begin tightening monetary policy. I don't think that's very likely," said Scot Johnson, senior client portfolio manager with Invesco Fixed Income in Houston.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 17.46, or 0.2 percent, to 10,642.15, its highest close since Jan. 19.

Portec Rail reports 2009 Q4 earnings

PITTSBURGH -- Portec Rail Products Monday reported net income of $1.4 million or 15 cents per share for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009, and $6.8 million or 71 cents per share for the year.

Net income for the same periods in 2008 were $1.5 million for the quarter and $7.8 million for the year.

Richard J. Jarosinski, president and chief executive officer, called the results respectable, considering the challenging economy.

"During 2009, we succeeded in significantly reducing inventory levels and generated good operational cash flow," Jarosinski said. "We also developed new product and service features for further expansion of our friction management product group and positioned the company in new markets like China."

Portec's Railway Maintenance Products Division operates a manufacturing and assembly plant in Huntington.Gray Television could miss debt compliance

Gray Television curbed by loss of advertising

ATLANTA -- Gray Television Inc. said Monday that it will likely be out of compliance with certain financing rules by the end of the month, which could lead lenders to demand faster debt repayment.

The company, which operates 36 television stations around the U.S. including WSAZ in the Huntington-Charleston market, said the loss of advertising revenue -- particularly from the automotive industry -- has hampered its ability to generate cash. That means it expects to violate a covenant requiring a specific ratio of debt to cash.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the company had $16 million in cash -- roughly half of the $30.6 million it had at the end of 2008. The company had about $791.8 million in long-term debt.

Gray said it is working to amend the credit facility with lenders, but said it was unsure if any agreement could be reached.

Also Monday, Gray said its fourth-quarter revenue was $77.5 million, down 18 percent from $94.8 million during the same period in 2008. For the full year, revenue fell 17 percent to $270.4 million, down from $327.2 million in 2008.

Sheetz plans to add Blockbuster DVD kiosks

DULUTH, Ga. -- Kiosk operator NCR Corp. said Monday it would place Blockbuster Express-branded DVD rental kiosks at nearly all 365 Sheetz convenience stores by the end of March.

The partnership represents the first Blockbuster kiosk deployment in six new markets located throughout North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, it said. DVDs from the kiosks can be rented for $1 a night with the swipe of a credit card.

Blockbuster, a struggling video rental chain, is setting up video rental kiosks to better compete with those operated by Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox even as it shuts down brick-and-mortar stores.

Blockbuster added 2,000 kiosks last year and plans to set up another 7,000 of the vending machines this year in a partnership with NCR Corp.

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