Market Recap: Stocks Down Ahead of Fed & Euro Bank Meetings

Markets closed down today:

▼ Dow: -0.49 percent

▼ Nasdaq: -0.21 percent

▼ S&P: -0.43 percent

Precious metals:

▼ Gold: down -0.60 percent to $1,614.11 an ounce

▼ Silver: down -0.88 percent to settle at $27.90

Commodities:

▼ Oil: -2.30 percent

Markets closed down because:

Stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday as investors held back ahead of three critical events this week: policy meetings at both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank and a closely watched report on jobs in the U.S.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 64.33 points to close at 13,008.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 edged down 5.98 points to 1,379.32, and the Nasdaq composite lost 6.32 points to 2,939.52.

The Federal Reserve, which started a two-day policy meeting Tuesday, had appeared to be moving toward announcing some kind of new step to energize the U.S. economy. But there were big questions over whether it will do so this week.

That's because some economists believe the Fed isn't convinced that the U.S. economic slowdown is pronounced enough yet to require more economic stimulus. A slew of recent data that has shown weakness in the economy has been offset by some pockets of strength.

Tuesday was no exception.

The Commerce Department reported that spending by the U.S. consumer was unchanged in June. But personal income edged up 0.5 percent.

There were other positive numbers. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed that prices increases in all of the 20 cities it tracks. The Conference Board said Consumer Confidence Index increased to its highest reading since April, and better than economists had forecast.

Investors were also closely watching for the outcome from the European Central Bank's meeting on Thursday to discuss concrete steps to help countries with crippling debt.

It will be the first meeting after ECB President Mario Draghi said last Thursday that the central bank would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro, sending markets sharply higher. Over the following days, the leaders of Germany, France and Italy also said they would do all they can to protect the 17-country currency union. The comments raised expectations that the ECB might step in to buy Spanish and perhaps Italian government bonds to lower the borrowing costs for those countries, which have shot up to unsustainably high levels.

Investors were also waiting for the monthly unemployment report on Friday, the most-watched gauge of how healthy the U.S. economy is.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.