US stocks little changed ahead of Fed decision

Wall Street stocks treaded water early on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve announcement this week that will update the market on the central bank's US economic outlook.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 26 613.57, up 0.2%.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1% at 2 922.29, while tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped slightly to 7 991.53.

Analysts view the Fed as almost certain to lift interest rates again on Wednesday but are watching for the US central bank's outline of additional interest rate hikes down the road.

"Maybe we're at the moment where the Fed will be thinking about pausing because there is some question about the medium-term outlook," said Isabelle Mateos y Lago, global macro strategist at BlackRock Investment Institute.

Other potential catalysts for the market include a report later Tuesday on US consumer confidence and an expected debate at the United National General Assembly between US President Donald Trump and Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.

Among individual shares, Facebook fell 2.0% following news that Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were exiting the company bought by Facebook six years ago.

Michael Kors Holdings rose 0.7% after announcing it was buying Italian fashion house Versace for $2.1bn and saying it would rename itself Capri Holdings.