Wall Street opens flat ahead of holiday

NEW YORK -

U.S. stocks opened flat on Tuesday as investors aimed to head into the Independence Day holiday without making big positions in their portfolios.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 16.58 points, or 0.13 percent, to 12,854.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 0.58 points, or 0.04 percent, to 1,364.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slipped 0.78 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,952.01.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, editing by Dave Zimmerman)