The stocks at the Wall Street on Wednesday traded lower as the market and investors awaited with bated breath for signals on the preferred timing of a hike in the interest rates from the statement and press conference of Federal Reserve, which is expected in the afternoon.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped slightly over 100 points during the morning trade, losing its gains for 2015. The index reported nine triple digits closes in the last two weeks, five downs and four ups.

The two-day meeting of Federal Open Market Committee, which will conclude on Wednesday, will be watched by the investors as they expect “patient” remains in the statement.

The highly anticipated statement is likely to come at 2 pm ET followed by a press conference of Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen at 2:30 pm.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said, “Everything all comes to a crescendo today at 2 o’clock. This is probably the most anticipated word change in the history of the Federal Reserve.”

“I truly believe the message is going to be that ‘patient’ isn’t in the statement so that gives us some option over the few months. We typically get a knee-jerk reaction. More times than not the first reaction is wrong,” Hogan said.

Many analysts said that changing the wording of Fed statement would not be fundamentally remarkable for the Wall Street.

The investors also closely watch if the stronger US dollar figures into the Federal Reserve statement. The greenback continued to remain at highs, while the euro dropped below USD 1.06.

Oil extended losses after the US Energy Information Administration report that the oil inventories increased 9.6 million barrels. On the other hand, crude oil traded just above USD 42 per barrel. Brent traded above USD 53 per barrel.

The US 10-year Treasury yield dropped to trade around 2.02 percent. The two-year note yield emerged 0.66 percent.

The shares lock-up of Alibaba expired on Wednesday, enabling the Chinese e-commerce and web giant to sell nearly 437 million of its shares.

Tech giant Apple Inc. is scheduled replacement of AT&T in the Dow Jones industrial average on Wednesday following the bell, as Visa implements a four-for-one stock split.

The European stocks turned mixed as the investors closely observed the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting.

The S&P 500 traded 0.24 percent lower, or 5 points, at 2,069, with consumer staples leading seven sectors lower, while utilities leading advancers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded down 75 points, or 0.42 percent, at 17,772. Coca-Cola was the leading decliners at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while Caterpillar was the greatest advancer. On the other hand, the Nasdaq traded six points lower, or 0.14 percent, at 4,930.

Crude oil futures fell $1.21 to $42.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $1.30 to $,1,146 an ounce in mid-morning trade.

US stocks was mostly lower during the closed trade on Tuesday as the market keenly focused on the outcome of the Fed meeting over the rate hike. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off triple digits, the Nasdaq emerged in the black.