U.S. stocks tick down as Fed meeting begins

U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 117.14 points, or 0.66 percent, to 17,615.34. The S&P 500 dipped 12.43 points, or 0.60 percent, to 2,066.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 29.70 points, or 0.61 percent, to 4,818.74.

Investors kept a close eye on the U.S. central bank's conference that started on Tuesday for more clues on the timing of the next interest rate hike.

However, most analysts predicted that the Fed won't make the rate decision at the meeting.

Also on Tuesday, the Commerce Department said that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food sales in May increased 0.5 percent from the previous month to 455.6 billion U.S. dollars, beating the market's prediction.

Meanwhile, prices for U.S. imports increased 1.4 percent in May, following a surge of 0.7 percent in April, while U.S. export prices jumped for 1.1 percent in May, after a 0.5-percent rise in the previous month, the U.S. Labor Department said Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. stocks retreated further as investors became cautious ahead of the Fed meeting. Endit