NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks declined early Monday at the start of a busy news week that features a Federal Reserve meeting and Election Day in the United States.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump were set to visit key swing states throughout Monday in the final stretch of campaigning ahead of in- person voting on Tuesday. Polls show the race as neck and neck.

If the result is close Tuesday night, it could be days before a winner is called.

“Volatility is likely to climb,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Historically, November has been the most volatile month of any election year.”

Wall Street Week Ahead: US election, Fed meeting loom in big week for markets

About 15 minutes into trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 percent at 41,904.96.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 5,722.68, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 18,174.95.

While the presidential election has been viewed as a toss-up, markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to cut interest rates by a quarter point on Thursday.

Another big potential catalyst for market activity will be a meeting of Chinese policy makers in which officials are expected to hash out a major stimulus package.