NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks dropped early Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy decision as oil prices fell again, hitting petroleum-linked shares.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates at the conclusion of the two-day monetary policy meeting Wednesday. Higher interest rates typically weigh on stocks.
Analysts also have pointed to the retreat in oil prices as a source of unease in equity markets. The US benchmark slipped further below $50 a barrel on Tuesday on worries about higher supplies.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 20.869.71, down 0.1 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.2 percent to 2,367.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.3 percent to 5,857.85.
Petroleum-linked shares fell, with Chevron losing 1.2 percent and Halliburton 3.2 percent.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International plunged 9.8 percent after activist investor Bill Ackman's fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, announced it was exiting the investment.
Pershing Square said it took a "large tax loss" on the investment, which consumed a "disproportionately large" portion of the hedge fund's "time and resources."
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