FOMC interest rate decision

Stocks closed mixed with little change on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates and warned that falling prices are becoming a bigger concern. Tuesday's meeting did little to give equities direction after an initial mid-afternoon pop.

As the Fed's rate-setting committee prepares to announce its latest decision today, it faces a weakening economy and the growing threat of deflation. And it has to combat these potential menaces with interest rates already set near 0%. Here's a look at its options.

In a paper titled "Seven Faces of the Peril," St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard lays out two possible paths for the U.S. economy. One is that the country falls into a Japanese-style, years-long rut of deflation.