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Stocks dipped in opening trading on Monday as investors hesitated to jump in ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting and another heavy week for quarterly earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 32 points lower in early morning action, dragged by Boeing, after posting a fifth-consecutive weekly rally last week.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also declined at the open. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded below 13.
Most key S&P sectors opened in the red, led by financials and industrials.
About one-fifth of the S&P 500 companies report earnings in the coming week. About half of the S&P 500 has reported earnings so far, with 68 percent beating earnings estimates, and 56 percent topping revenue forecasts, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
On the economic front, pending home sales data were being reported later on Monday.
However, market attention will mostly be on the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting, which starts on Tuesday and may give an indication of when the central bank's massive asset purchase program will be tailed back. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank will also meet this week.
"All of them are expected to touch on the subject of forward guidance, albeit to various extents," Credit Agricole analysts wrote in a research note. "The clarity of the symphony will determine the level of support to the risk appetite. Should any of them be more explicit (continuing its stimulus policies) about forward guidance, the market can be expected to react in a positive way."
(Read more:Changes to Fed 'forward guidance' could lead to this)
The gross domestic product for the second quarter will be reported on Wednesday and the key payrolls report on Friday.
In Europe, shares traded higher after French food group Danone posted better-than-expected second-quarter revenue. However, shares of Dutch delivery firm TNT fell after it reported a second-quarter operating loss, and Ryanair shares dropped after the budget airline kept its forecast for full-year net profit, but warned of a tough market.
(Read more: No green shoots in southern Europe yet: Ryanair)
European markets were also lifted by the announcement of a $35.1 billion merger between the world's second and third biggest advertising agencies, U.S.-headquartered Omnicom and France's Publicis.
(Read more: Global ad market a buzz over $35 billion new giant)
Earlier, Asian equity markets declined across the board, as renewed fears of an economic slowdown in China hindered gains. Japanese stocks fell to a new four-week low on the back of the strengthening yen. The dollar-yen hit a new one-month low of 97.61 leading to a sell-off across the export-heavy Nikkei index.
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