Awaiting the Fed's Decision, the Market Drops Slightly The stock market dipped slightly on Tuesday, with investors reluctant to make big bets before the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting that might give some indication of when the central bank will begin scaling back its economic stimulus program. While some economists do not expect the Fed to start tapering its monthly purchases of $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities until March, others say some recent stronger-than-expected economic reports have increased the odds that it could begin winding down the program sooner. The Fed has said it would begin to taper the program when certain economic indicators meet its targets. Some market analysts believe that the central bank will upgrade its economic forecasts at its two-day policy meeting, which ends on Wednesday. "The most recent data has pulled forward expectations on when tapering could start," said Hayes Miller, who helps oversee about $57 billion as head of asset allocation in North America at Baring Asset Management. We think the Fed will err on the side of caution, but everyone is taking a wait-and-see attitude. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index declined 5.54 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,781.00. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 9.31 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to close at 15,875.26. The Nasdaq composite index fell 5.84 points, or 0.14 percent, to 4,023.68. A government report on Tuesday showed that inflation remained under control in November, with the Consumer Price Index unchanged for the month. The annual rate of inflation remains below the Fed's target of 2 percent, and that may be a factor in when the central bank decides to begin pulling back on its economic stimulus. Among the stocks on the move, KKR Financial Holdings surged $2.89, or 30.6 percent, to $12.34, after KKR & Company said it would acquire its credit investment affiliate for about $2.6 billion. KKR slid 29 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $24.79. Facebook rose $1.05, or 2 percent, to $54.86, after the social network said it would begin placing video ads in the news feeds of its users starting this week. Shares of 3M climbed $3.73, or 2.9 percent, to $131.39, making it the biggest gainer among the Dow industrials, after the company affirmed its outlook and raised its dividend. Boeing rose $1.16, or 0.9 percent, to $135.88, after the aircraft maker's board raised the company's dividend about 50 percent and approved $10 billion in new stock-buyback authority that the company said it would use in the next two to three years. Frontier Communications jumped 38 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $4.78, making it the S.&P. 500"s biggest percentage gainer. AT&T said it would sell its wireline operations in Connecticut to Frontier for $2 billion in cash, partly to finance the expansion of its 4G network. AT&T fell 30 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $33.85. In after-hours trading, Jabil Circuit plunged $2.84, or 14.4 percent, to $16.88, after the electronics products maker reported quarterly earnings that were below analysts" estimates and forecast a weaker quarter ahead. In the bond market, interest rates slipped ahead of the outcome of the Fed's policy meeting. The yield on the Treasury's 10-year note fell to 2.84 percent, from 2.88 percent late Monday, while its price rose 12/32, to 99 8/32.