The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slightly on Wed, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite swooned into negative territory near the end of the session as Treasury yields rebounded.
The Dow rose 90.73 points, or 0.26%, to 34,390.72, and the S&P 500 added 0.16% to close at 4,359.46. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.24% to finish at 14,512.44. The 10-year Treasury yield traded below 1.50% Wed morning but bounced back toward 1.54% in afternoon trading.
Boeing (BA US, +3.2%) led the Dow higher. On Wed, the head of Boeing's China operations told Reuters that a 737 Max test flight for Chinese regulators last month had been a success.
Enthusiasm for new issues continues. Eyewear retailer Warby Parker (WRBY US) closed 36% above its reference price on its NYSE debut.
US ADRs of Chinese video game companies, Tencent (TCEHY US, -1.19%), NetEase (NTES US, -3.53%) and Bilibili (BILI US, -3.25%) fell after a SCMP report said that that Beijing hasn't approved any new licensed video games in the last two months, and that its content reviews are getting stricter.
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.61% to 94.338, reaching a 10 month high.
The front-month Brent and WTI futures closed down 45 cents at US$78.64/bbl and 46 cents at US$74.83/bbl respectively. US natural gas futures for Nov delivery fell 28.8 cents, or 4.9% on Wed on expectations of mild weather.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Dec) contracts settled down $14.10, or 0.8%, at US$1,722.90/oz. December silver, which is the most actively traded silver futures, fell 97.5 cents, or 4.3%, to end at US$21.485/oz.
The UK FTSE gained 1.14%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.83%, while the German DAX advanced 0.77%. London stocks were aided by a falling pound, which has dropped on concerns over an economic slowdown as a result of a fuel shortage.