US stocks move down ahead of Fed meeting

US stocks ended mildly lower on Monday, as Wall Street digested quarterly earnings reports ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.51 points, or 0.15 percent, to 17,977.24. The S&P 500 decreased 3.79 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,087.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 10.44 points, or 0.21 percent, to 4,895.79.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will announce its latest rate decision when it concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after a mixed bag of economic data and recent volatility in financial markets.

Investors will look into the statement for indications on the potential for a hike at the June meeting.

In corporate news, shares of KKR & Co. L.P. decreased 3.01 percent to 14.49 dollars apiece Monday after the U.S. private-equity firm reported quarterly earnings below market estimates.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2016 are expected to decrease 7.3 percent year on year, while the revenue is forecast to decline 1.3 percent.

Overseas stock market also declined broadly on Monday. European equities moved down amid weak investor sentiment across the world. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange dipped 0.76 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost 0.78 percent.

In Asia, Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.42 percent to finish at 2,946.67 points, while Japanese 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average slid 0.76 percent to 17,439.30 points.