Wall Street slips on Fed watch
United States stocks closed modestly lower as investors looked ahead to a busy week of economic news, corporate earnings and a US Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 36.86 points, or 0.24%, to close at 15,521.97 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6.32 points, or 0.37%, to 1,685.33 points.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 14.02 points, or 0.39%, to close at 3,599.14 points.
Analysts said investors are unlikely to place big bets ahead of this week's high-profile economic calendar, which includes a meeting of the Fed's policy-making committee and releases on second-quarter US economic growth and monthly jobs data.
"We have so much stuff later in the week," said Steven Rosen, a vice president at Societe Generale. "There was really not much happening in the market as a whole."
Although investors will be closely watching the outcome of the Fed's policy-setting committee meeting, few surprises are expected. Markets have generally taken the view that the central bank could begin tapering its stimulus spending later this year.