Stocks close mixed ahead of Fed statement; Twitter plunges 18%

U.S.stocks closed mixed on Tuesday as investors eyed tech earnings and awaited the Federal Reserve's statement on Wednesday. ( Tweet This )

Twitter had its second-worst day, with shares closing down 18.18 percent. In the last 15 minutes before the close, shares resumed trading about 20 percent lower. The company was scheduled to report after the bell but released its earnings early, after shares were halted following a 5.5 percent plunge on online reports that earnings may have leaked.

The social media company reported a beat on earnings but a miss on revenue, as well as lower 2015 full-year expectations. Guidance on second-quarter revenue was about $100 million lower than estimates.

Tuesday's afternoon gains in equities were muted, with the Nasdaq failing to stay in positive territory, as investors remained on edge ahead of Wednesday's expected Fed statement.

"The Fed meeting has caused markets to be nervous even though there's no press conference," said Qunicy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. "There is a worry that there is a signal that they will raise rates this year."

The Federal Market Open Committee began on Tuesday and will conclude with the release of a post-meeting statement expected at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. A wave of mostly disappointing domestic data since the previous FOMC meeting has spurred economists to downgrade their outlooks for the U.S. economy in 2015, particularly for the first quarter. Signs of economic improvement in the subsequent quarters could still support a rate hike at some point later this year.

"The market is very content with the earnings and its a stubbornly strong market, and I suspect another reason for today's climb is investors feel confident the FOMC statement ... is not going to be (too) hawkish and interest rates stay on hold," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

The Dow Jones industrial average held about 70 points higher after briefly falling more than 100 points on news of the seizure of a Western cargo ship off the coast of Iran.