 "Wall Street falls as election uncertainty rattles investors")
U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling for the seventh straight day as a tightening race for the White House prompted investors to seek safe-haven assets such as gold.
Investors are rethinking their long-held bets of a November 8 victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton amid signs that her Republican rival Donald Trump could be closing the gap.
While Clinton held a 5 percentage point lead over Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday, some other polls showed her Republican rival ahead by 1-2 percentage points.
"As the polls change, the market is growing more nervous and is beginning to price in a Trump presidency," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"While Clinton represents a status quo, there is little clarity on what kind of impact Trump's policies will have on trade and foreign policy."
Gold hit a near one-month high earlier in the day, suggesting investor anxiety over the election.
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Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 ending the day at the lowest level since July 7. The index had breached a key technical level earlier in the session.
The selloff in equities comes as the Fed holds its two-day policy meeting, with a statement due at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).
While traders do not expect the central bank to raise interest rates just a week before the election, they are looking for clues that the Fed is set to hike rates in December.
Traders are pricing in a 73.6 percent chance of a December hike, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
At 9:36 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was down 39.21 points, or 0.22 percent, at 17,997.89.
The S&P 500 was down 4.59 points, or 0.22 percent, at 2,107.13.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 8.99 points, or 0.17 percent, at 5,144.59.
All 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the rate-sensitive utilities index's 0.84 percent fall topping the decliners.
The energy index was down 0.74 percent as crude oil prices fell for the fourth day after industry data showed a surprise build in U.S. stockpiles. Oil has lost 10 percent in the last two weeks. [O/R]
Data showed U.S. private employers added 147,000 jobs in October, falling short of expectations. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 165,000 jobs.
Third-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to rise by 3.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data, ending a year-long earnings recession.
Alibaba Group shares rose 1.5 percent to $102.62 after the Chinese e-commerce firm's second-quarter revenue beat estimates. Yahoo, which has a 15 percent stake in Alibaba, was up 1 percent.
Brocade Communications was up 9.1 percent at $12.25 after chipmaker Broadcom said it would buy the company for $5.5 billion. Broadcom was up 1.1 percent at $170.50.
Tableau Software fell 9.5 percent to $44.82 after the data analytics software maker reported lower-than-expected third-quarter revenue.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,716 to 855. On the Nasdaq, 1,312 issues fell and 819 advanced.
The S&P 500 index showed no new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded six new highs and 29 new lows.