After ending the previous session mostly higher, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by just 0.1 percent.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting gets underway.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 96.0 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point and a slim 4.0 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

The futures remained little changed even after the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales rose by much more than expected in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in August, matching an upwardly revised increase in July.

Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.5 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.