US stocks hold weaker as focus shift to FOMC meeting

Major US equity indices witnessed opened lower on Tuesday and failed to gain any traction from the latest round of positive corporate earnings. 

Investors also seemed reluctant to place any fresh bullish bets ahead of a two-day FOMC meeting, starting today. The Fed is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday and is expected to leave interest rates on hold. The key focus, however, would be on signals over the future tightening path, which would eventually drive investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities. 

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 200-points, back below the 24,000 mark, and the broader S&P 500 Index declined nearly 8-points to 2,640. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the broader markets and was down only 3-points to 7,062.