Stocks Open Mostly Lower Ahead of Fed Meeting Stocks are edging mostly lower in Wall Street in early trading as traders hold back at the beginning of a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down almost four points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,782 after the first few minutes of trading Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average was down two points, just 0.02 percent, at 15,882. The Nasdaq composite was down 10 points, or 0.3 percent, at 4,019. The Fed wraps up its meeting Wednesday. It will also release economic projections and hold a news conference. Manufacturer 3M led the Dow higher with a 3 percent gain after increasing its dividend and predicting steady earnings gains through 2017.