US Stocks Flat As Markets Wait On Fed

Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Tuesday following conflicting reports on Sino-US trade talks and as the Federal Reserve began a two-day monetary policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.1 percent at 25,887.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost less than 0.1 percent at 2,833, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 7,724.

Stocks spent much of the day solidly positive but weakened following a Bloomberg report that described tensions between the United States and China on trade terms that could pose problems for a broad agreement.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will return to Beijing next week to resume talks, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

Nate Thooft, senior managing director at Manulife Investments, said equities were also primed for a pullback after rallying last week ahead of Wednesday's Fed decision.

"People are starting to realize the Fed can't be more dovish than how it has already been," Thooft said.

The US central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged and could signal it anticipates fewer interest rate hikes in 2019. (AFP)