1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end mixed amid Fed meeting

U.S. stocks closed mixed Tuesday, as investors were closely watching the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) two-day meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 128.41 points, or 0.71 percent, to 17,849.01. The S&P 500 dipped 6.99 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,074.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 7.93 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,937.44.

The FOMC started a two-day meeting Tuesday and is expected to release its statement Wednesday afternoon. Investors were eagerly awaiting the statement, with many expecting the central bank to remove the word "patient" from its statement, paving the way to a rate hike.

Economic data came out unexpectedly weak, dampening investor sentiment. U.S. private-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000, 17 percent below the revised January estimate of 1,081,000 and 3.3 percent below the February 2014 rate of 928,000, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

"With February's decline in starts and likely subsequent backing up in the housing market as a whole, it looks unlikely that housing will be a strong growth engine anytime soon this year, " said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.

Overseas, Japan's benchmark Nikkei index notched a new 15-year closing high Tuesday after the Bank of Japan stood pat on interest rates, while Chinese Shanghai Composite Index closed above the 3, 500 mark for the first time in nearly seven years.

In corporate news, Apple shares rose 1.67 percent to 127.04 dollars apiece Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that the tech giant is in talks with programmers to launch an on-line television service. Endite