· The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly on Tuesday as investors awaited more clues on the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy move.

The 30-stock index closed 22.65 points lower, or 0.1%, at 26,783.49, notching a three-day losing streak, after being pressured by 3M shares. The stock fell more than 2% after an analyst at RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to sector perform from outperform amid worries over the macro economic environment and overhang from litigation. Before the close, however, the Dow briefly turned positive.

The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rose, however, as Facebook and Amazon shares gained more than 1% each. Netflix shares also added to the indexes gains. The Nasdaq gained 0.5% to close at 8,141.73while the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 2,979.63.

· European stocks closed lower on Tuesday as a warning of an autos slowdown from German chemicals giant BASF dragged down autos and chemicals companies.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was provisionally down 0.5% at the closing bell, with basic resources stocks more than 2% lower. Markets were also dragged down by autos stocks, which shed nearly 1.6%, as well as the chemicals sector, which was down by more than 1% at the end of the session.

· Stocks in Asia were mixed in Wednesday morning trade as investors await comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for possible clues on the central bank’s next move on interest rates.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.17% in early trade, while the Topix fell 0.55%.

South Korea’s Kospi, on the other hand, advanced 0.59% as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix soared more than 3%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.56% as most sectors traded higher.

Investors will be watching out for the release of Chinese inflation data, set to be out at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday.

Reference: CNBC