Stocks closed slightly lower at the end of Wednesday's session after the Federal Reserve maintained its ultra-accommodative monetary policy in its latest decision. The S&P 500 held near a flat-line, while the Dow and Nasdaq slipped lower into the red.

The Federal Open Market Committee concluded its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday with the central bank keeping interest rates between 0.0-0.25%. The Fed also upgraded its assessment of the economy and commented on rising inflation.

"Amid progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened," FOMC said in its April statement. "The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic remain week but have shown improvement. Inflation has risen, largely reflecting transitory factors."

"With inflation running persistently below this longer-run goal, the Committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2% for some time so that inflation averages 2% over time and longer‑term inflation expectations remain well anchored at 2%. The Committee expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these outcomes are achieved," the committee added.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.08% or -3.41 points to 4,183.31

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.48% or -164.29 points to 33,820.64

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.28% or -39.19 points to 14,051.03

For Stocks, Boeing (BA  ) shares fell nearly 3% after posting its sixth straight quarterly loss. Alphabet (GOOG  ) shares rose after the Google parent reported better-than-expected earnings, while Microsoft (MSFT  ) shares slipped nearly 3% despite its earnings beat.

For Sector Performance, sectors ended Wednesday's session mixed with Energy (XLE  ) and Communication Services (XLC  ) leading gains, while Information Technology (XLK  ), Health Care (XLV  ) and Real Estate (XLRE  ) leading losses.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) declined on Wednesday following the Fed's latest monetary policy decision. The dollar index fell 0.4% in afternoon trade against six other global currencies at 90.551. Gold (GLD  ) prices gained on the falling dollar and U.S. Treasury yields on Wednesday following the central bank's April policy. Spot gold rose 0.2% in late afternoon trade to $1,780.56 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.3% lower at $1,773.90 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday as demand optimism increased despite India's surging coronavirus outbreak. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 1.28% higher at $67.27 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 1.46% higher at $63.86 each.

For Thursday, investors will turn their attention to the Labor Department's latest weekly unemployment claims data, and react to quarterly earnings reports from Apple (AAPL  ), Facebook (FB  ) and Qualcomm (QCOM  ).