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NEW YORK Yohan Cabaye France Jersey , March 17 (Xinhua) -- 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 Steve Mandanda France Jersey ,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 pave the way to a rate hike by removing the word "patient" from its statement.


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 Samuel Umtiti France Jersey , which is 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 Raphael Varane France Jersey , an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.


Overseas, Japan's benchmark Nikkei index notched a new 15-year closing high Tuesday