NEW YORK — Stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday as investors held back ahead of three critical events this week: policy meetings at both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank and a closely watched report on jobs in the U.S.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 64.33 points to close at 13,008.68. The Standard & Poor’s 500 edged down 5.98 points to 1,379.32, and the Nasdaq composite lost 6.32 points to 2,939.52.

The Federal Reserve, which started a two-day policy meeting Tuesday, had appeared to be moving toward announcing some kind of new step to energize the U.S. economy. But there were big questions over whether it will do so this week.

That’s because some economists believe the Fed isn’t convinced that the U.S. economic slowdown is pronounced enough yet to require more economic stimulus. A slew of recent data that has shown weakness in the economy has been offset by some pockets of strength.

Tuesday was no exception.

The Commerce Department reported that spending by the U.S. consumer was unchanged in June. But personal income edged up 0.5 percent.