NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks edged lower Tuesday morning as investors geared up for an expected interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, as well as readings on consumer confidence and manufacturing.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 7.60 to 10,892.32, Charts) was modestly lower in the early going, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (down 2.88 to 1,282.32, Charts) and the Nasdaq composite (down 4.66 to 2,302.12, Charts) both lost 0.2 percent.

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Fed policy makers are meeting Tuesday, during the last meeting led by Chairman Alan Greenspan. The central bank is widely expected to boost the Fed funds rate, a short-term overnight bank lending rate, by a quarter-percentage point to 4.5 percent. This would mark the 14th consecutive rate hike since June 2004.

However, of greater interest to investors will be what the Fed says in the statement about the future of rate hikes, with many hoping that an end to the campaign is in sight. (Full Story.)

Ahead of that, reports were due on consumer confidence and manufacturing in the Midwest area.

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery fell 27 cents to $68.08 a barrel in electronic trading after OPEC decided to keep oil output near the highest levels in order to combat high prices.

Treasury prices were modestly lower, with the yield on the 10-year note holding at 4.53 percent, little changed from late Monday.

In currency trading, the dollar slipped versus the euro and the yen.

COMEX gold rose $3.90 to $569.70 an ounce.

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