By Ovunc Kutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) - Major exchanges in the US opened lower Tuesday as the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting kicked off.
The Dow Jones was down 133 points, or 0.4%, to 33,918 at 10.50 am EDT. The S&P 500 fell 16 points, or 0.4%, to 4,150.
The Nasdaq decreased 23 points, or 0.19%, to 12,186 at the time.
The Fed will conclude its meeting on Wednesday and announce its interest rate decision at 2.00 pm EDT that day.
The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, jumped 6% to 17.04. Meanwhile, the 10-year US Treasury yield fell 1% to 3.540%.
The dollar index added 0.15% to 102.31, while the euro lost 0.16% to $1.0957 against the greenback.
Precious metals were mixed, with the price of gold rising 0.3% to $1,988 per ounce but silver falling 1% to $24.71 an ounce.
Crude oil prices plummeted around 2.8% with the global benchmark Brent crude price at $77.17 per barrel and the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude price at $73.44.