US stocks fall ahead of Fed's decision

US stock indices fell in early trading on Wednesday, awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision later today.

The US Federal Reserve's monthly meeting will conclude later today, amid expectations of holding the benchmark interest rate near zero.

The decision will be followed by will be followed by a press conference from the Fed Chief Jerome Powell to comment on monetary policy.

Major US companies started announcing their Q2 business results this week, led Microsoft and Alphabet, both of which reported strong profits and revenues.

Efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are continuing around the world, especially after the emergence of the new highly transmissible Delta variant in some countries.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 0.3% or 100 points to 34,959 as of 14:22 GMT, and S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% or 1 point to 4,401, while Nasdaq rose 0.7% or 104 points to 14,764.