U.S. market indexes were mixed Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18034.77 for a loss of -31.98 points or -0.18 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2125.77 for a loss of -1.25 points or -0.06 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5173.77 for a gain of 18.52 points or 0.36 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 17.64 for a loss of -0.21 points or -1.18 percent.

Wednesday’s Market Movers

Stocks were mostly lower Wednesday as oil prices fell. Wednesday’s Petroleum Status Report showed oil inventories basically unchanged at -0.6 million barrels. On Wednesday WTI crude fell to $43.70 a barrel and Brent crude fell to $46.00 a barrel.

Other reports on the economic calendar Wednesday included mortgage applications and trade prices. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Applications report showed mortgage applications up 4.2 percent. Import prices were down 2.2 percent from a year ago and export prices were down 2.4 percent.

Stocks trading actively on Wednesday included the following:

Apple

Bank of America

Ford

General Electric

Chesapeake Energy

Wells Fargo

AT&T

Monsanto

Microsoft

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average the following stocks led losses:

American Express -1.37

International Business Machines -1.13

Chevron -1.02

Boeing -0.85

Merck -0.74

Sectors leading losses in the broad market included energy and financial services. The technology sector gained for the day with S&P 500 technology sector companies up 0.47 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5173.77 for a gain of 0.36 percent. The Nasdaq 100 closed higher at 4746.06 for a gain of 23.22 points or 0.49 percent. Stocks leading gains in the technology sector included the following:

Liberty Media Group 6.68

Skyworks Solutions 4.38

Apple 3.54

Liberty Global Group 2.86

Broadcom Ltd 2.64

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc 2.07

In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.43 points or 0.34 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.25 points or -0.26 percent to 95.33.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1211.59 for a loss of -0.73 points or -0.06 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was lower at 732.28 for a loss of -2.54 points or -0.35 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was lower at 7389.57 for a loss of -6.89 points or -0.09 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was lower at 8481.75 for a loss of -22.21 points or -0.26 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1512.78 for a loss of -4.48 points or -0.30 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 943.29 for a loss of -0.04 points or -0.01 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1257.50 for a loss of -0.79 points or -0.06 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1177.97 for a loss of -0.74 points or -0.06 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 600.84 for a loss of -1.05 points or -0.17 percent.