Stocks retreated overnight as investor wariness about the outlook for the EU debt crisis, in particular Greece, offset hopes that the US central bank will act decisively later this week to bolster the world's biggest economy.
In late afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.04 per cent lower, the Standard & Poor's 500 slid 0.18 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.61 per cent.
Some believe a clear signal from the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday will draw out many investors waiting on the sidelines.
"There is a huge potential for a tremendous rally," Dave Rovelli, managing director of US equity trading at Canaccord Adams. "And if we get to 1,440 [for the S&P 500], that's what everybody is looking for. Everybody is looking at whether Bernanke institutes QE3."
Others also see strength ahead. US stocks will climb 12 per cent through the end of 2013, driving the S&P 500 to a record, as an improvement in capital investment and industrial production boost earnings, Citigroup strategists led by Tobias Levkovich wrote in a report dated September 7.