NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks fell early Tuesday, retreating from records as investors digested mostly solid corporate earnings and awaited a Federal Reserve monetary policy decision.

Strong earnings reports from Tesla, General Electric were among the highlights since Monday's stock market close left all three major indices at records.

Many large reports are still yet to be released this week, with Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet all due to report after Tuesday's market close.

Markets are also awaiting the Fed's policy announcement on Wednesday. Investors expect the US central bank to maintain easy money policies but also offer clues on when it might shift course on its bond buying strategy.

US stocks dip ahead of Fed meeting, tech earnings

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 percent at 34,957.65.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 percent to 4,403.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.5 percent to 14,762.84.

The Commerce Department reported that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods increased 0.8 percent in June, weaker than expected and much less than the 3.2 percent growth seen the month before.