NEW YORK, April 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors digested Federal Reserve officials' comments and the latest first-quarter earnings report of major listed companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.55 points, or 0.03 percent, to 33,976.63. The S&P 500 added 3.55 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,154.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 4.31 points, or 0.04 percent, to 12,153.41.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green with industrial and energy sectors leading the gainers up 0.46 percent and 0.45 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, health and communication services sectors led the laggards down 0.66 percent and 0.65 percent, respectively.

Raphael Bostic, the president of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said on Tuesday that one more hike of 25 basis points should be enough for the Fed on interest rates while St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard saw 5.50 percent to 5.75 percent of Federal fund rate adequately restrictive.

The Fed should avoid extensive forward guidance at the next meeting in early May and keep options open, said Bullard in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Tuesday that housing starts totaled 1.42 million annualized rate in March. Economists had expected a reading of 1.4 million annualized rate. The prior reading was revised from 1.45 million to 1.432 million annualized rate.

Goldman Sachs missed market estimate on revenues in the first quarter while Bank of America beat expectations on both net earnings and revenues for the period, according to earnings reports released on Tuesday morning.