Information provided by theflyonthewall.com.​

Stocks on Wall Street were lower midday Tuesday, as investors await the afternoon release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes.

The market began the day slightly lower but quickly turned mixed as the Nasdaq moved into positive territory. The averages never really gained any upside momentum and drifted until finally succumbing to a round of selling.

Near noon, the Dow was down 73.11, or 0.55%, to 13,191.38; the Nasdaq was down 10.58, or 0.34%, to 3,109.12; and the S&P 500 was down 8.26, or 0.58%, to 1,410.78

Investors are waiting for the day's most watched economic event, the Fed's FOMC minutes, for clues as to any changes in fiscal policy.

Economic events
Orders for U.S. factory goods rebounded in February from a decline in the previous month, rising 1.3% to $468.41 billion. Analysts had called for a 1.5% increase.

Market news
Molson Coors (TAP) agreed to buy European brewer StarBev from CVC Capital Partners for $3.54 billion in a deal that will increase its presence in emerging and growth markets.

Major movers
Among the notable gainers were Conn's (CONN), following earnings and guidance that beat expectations, and Solazyme (SZYM), after announcing plans to form a renewable oil joint venture with Bunge (BG). Also higher were shares of CVR Energy (CVI) after Carl Icahn said about 55% of the company's outstanding shares have been tendered as part of his $30 per share buyout offer.

Noteworthy losers included Mitek Systems (MITK), after the company was sued by USAA on allegations of misappropriation of proprietary information, breach of contract and fraud, and Qihoo (QIHU), following a Forbes article outlining challenges the company may face related to an audit of its Q1 results.