Stocks ended Tuesday's session relatively flat as market participants looked ahead to a big batch of mega-cap tech quarter earnings and the Federal Open Market Committee's latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday. The S&P 500 held near its record level, as the Dow inched forward and the Nasdaq slipped lower.

Meanwhile, consumer confidence rose higher-than-expected in April, as consumers were encouraged by the accelerated U.S. vaccination effort and easing pandemic restrictions boosted economic outlooks. The Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence index increased to 121.7 in April, up from March's downwardly revised reading of 109.

"Consumers' assessment of current conditions improved significantly in April, suggesting the economic recovery strengthened further in early Q2," Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in a press statement Tuesday. "Consumers' optimism about the short-term outlook held steady this month. Consumers were more upbeat about their income prospects, perhaps due to the improving job market and the recent round of stimulus checks. Short-term inflation expectations held steady in April, but remain elevated. Vacation intentions posted a healthy increase, likely boosted by the accelerating vaccine rollout and further loosening of pandemic restrictions."

Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.02% or -0.94 points to 4,186.68

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.01% or +2.90 points to 33,984.47

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.34% or -48.56 points to 14,090.22

For Stocks, GameStop (GME  ) shares popped on Tuesday after the video game retailer sold 3.5 million additional shares, raised $551 million to help accelerate the company's ecommerce transformation. Tesla (TSLA  ) shares dropped despite the EV giant beating headline quarter earnings and revenue on Monday. CEO Elon Musk stated in its earnings report that Tesla has continued auto supply chain issues that are also affecting other rivals, including semiconductors.

For Sector Performance, sector ended Tuesday's session mostly in the red, with only Energy (XLE  ), Financials (XLF  ) and Industrials (XLI  ) climbing higher. Communication Services (XLC  ), Health Care (XLV  ) and Utilities (XLU  ) led losses.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) was flat on Tuesday against other currencies as investors looked ahead to the central bank's latest policy decision on Wednesday. The dollar index was flat at 90.912 in later trade, recovering from multi-week lows at 90.679 overnight. Gold (GLD  ) prices also left Tuesday's session with little changed ahead of the Fed's updated monetary policy. Spot gold left the session at $1,780.90 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled at $1,776.10 per ounce. Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday as market participants expect OPEC+ to move forward with the group's current plans to boost oil output slightly starting May 1. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 1.17% higher at $66.42 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) gained 1.63% to $62.94 per barrel.

For Wednesday, traders will react to the Fed's latest monetary policy decision as well as earnings from Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Alphabet (GOOG  ), which release after market close on Tuesday.