Stocks sag as 2-day Fed meeting kicks off

The stock market ended with its fourth straight loss today heading into the Wednesday's announcement from the Federal Reserve - one of several concerns hanging over Wall Street.

Investors have grown increasingly nervous as signs of economic weakness raise uncertainty about what the Fed will say about the economy and interest rates when its meeting ends tomorrow. But the bigger concern for investors here and elsewhere around the globe is Britain’s referendum next week on whether the country will remain in the European Union.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 58 points, or 0.3%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.

Fed may signal slower hikes, stay mum on July

In the latest economic report that came out as Fed policymakers began meeting, the government reported that retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.5% in May.

That follows a 1.3% rise in April and beat the 0.3% gain that economists expected.

Retail sales post solid gain in May

European stocks were lower Tuesday as a continued rush away from riskier assets pushed the yield on Germany’s 10-year government bond -- which moves opposite its price -- into negative territory for the first time ever.

The yield on the bond, a traditional safe haven for investors, fell to just below zero early Tuesday, according to financial information provider FactSet. It had come close to zero recently but never before dipped into negative territory.

Yields have been depressed by the European Central Bank’s ultra-loose monetary policy, which has included cutting interest rates and buying hundreds of billions of bonds. U.S. interest rates have fallen sharply but are nowhere near as low. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note briefly fell below 1.6% Tuesday for the first time since December 2012.

The broad Stoxx Europe 600 closed down 1.9% and Germany's DAX index fell 1.3%. Britain's FTSE 100 index tumbled 2%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.0% to 15,859.00, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.6%. The Shanghai composite index rose 0.4%.

The benchmark S&P 500 index flirted with setting a new high last week but couldn't quite close the deal. U.S. stock markets fell Monday after a deadly shooting in Orlando over the weekend killed 49 people and as UK 'Brexit' fears mounted. Going into Tuesday's trading the S&P was 2.4% below its record close of 2130.82 on May 21, 2015.

In a report to clients Tuesday, investment strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that because of uncertainty about the June 23 vote in the U.K., as well as daily changes in the rhetoric of the U.S. presidential election, "it may be a good time to protect some profits in equities."

As for the Fed's 2 p.m. ET announcement Wednesday on interest rates, "we see virtually no chance of a rate hike," the strategists said.

Contributing: Associated Press