US Stock Market Today: S&P, Nasdaq Advance; Dow Jones Falls Amid Strengthened Investor Sentiment

The main Wall Street indices were trading mixed, paring opening gains on Wednesday's trading session in the holiday-shortened week.

Investor sentiment gained a boost by an antitrust ruling against Google-parent Alphabet, which resulted in less severe penalties than the Justice Department had sought.

As of 7:50 p.m. IST, the S&P 500 was trading 0.37% or 24 points higher at 6,439.54; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% or 198 points at 45,097.85, while the Nasdaq Composite was trading 0.96% or 204 points higher at 21,483.36.

Shares of Alphabet A, Apple and Biogen were among the top gainers in the S&P index. Starbucks, Exxon Mobil and Lockheed Martin were among the top draggers.

Apple, Home Depot, and Nvidia were among the winners on Dow Jones while Chevron, Boeing and 3M were among the top losers.

The sectoral indices were largely down, with eight out of 11 indices trading in the red and three trading in the green. The energy sector led the decline while the communication sector led the rally.

Gold edged 0.81% higher to $3,561.61 an ounce whereas crude oil was trading 2.13% lower at $67.13 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell 0.3%, while bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, rose 0.91% to $112,435.81.

At market open, the S&P 500 was trading 0.35% or 23 points higher at 6,438.25; the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened 0.03% or 14 points up at 45,309.43, while the Nasdaq Composite was trading 0.85% or 182 points higher at 21,461,63.