US close: Dow ekes out gains as oil prices rebound

US stocks were flat on Wednesday as the Dow Jones relinquished Tuesday's gain and the Nasdaq halted a 10-day winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 15.38 points to 18,224.57, while the S&P and the Nasdaq dropped 1.62 and 0.98 points respectively.

In Tuesday’s testimony,Yellen downplayed fears of early rates rises, staying away from hinting on possible interest rate hikes by saying the central bank will assess the conditions on a meeting-by-meeting basis.

Wednesday's message was along the same lines, as the Fed chairwoman reiterated that interest rates will be lifted when the Federal Open Market Committee is confident that inflation is on track to hit the central bank’s target of 2% growth.

“The Federal Open Market Committee is clearly more worried about tightening monetary policy too early rather than too late,” said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

“There have been big improvements in the US labour market but inflation is still well below target and that gives the Fed the excuse it needs to stick with zero interest rate policy as long as possible.”

Having registered losses in the first two sessions of the week, oil prices rebounded strongly, with Brent crude rising 4.8% to $61.64 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate advanced 2.8% to $50.72 a barrel.

New US home sales sold at an annual rate of 481,000 in January, declining slightly from 482,000 in December but above expectations of a 470,000 reading.

Meanwhile, applications for US home mortgages fell for a third consecutive week in the week ended 20 February.

According to figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 3.5% last week, reaching its lowest level since 2 January.

In company news, electronics retailer Target edged 0.26% higher despite reporting a pre-tax loss of $5.1bn, including an impairment charge, at its Canadian operations.

Department store chain Macy's advanced 2.38% even though it reported a 2% rise in sales in the holiday shopping quarter, falling short of analysts' estimates.

First Solar climbed 7.02% after reporting late on Tuesday that its profit had almost tripled in the fourth quarter, while animated film producer Dreamworks rose 6.15% despite announcing late on Tuesday that it swung to a fourth quarter loss of $263.2m

Tech giant Hewlett Packard posted first-quarter earnings of 92 cents per share, up 2% from a year ago, beating analysts' expectations but that did not stop shares from plunging 9.92% after it warned that currency headwinds will weigh more than expected on earnings in the current quarter.

Energy group Chesapeake Energy tumbled 9.65% after a profit miss, while Apple slid 2.56%.

Gold futures advanced 0.58% to $1,204.20,while the dollar fell 0.47% and 0.16% against the pound and the euro respectively and slid 0.06% against the yen.

S&P 500 - Risers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $54.70 +10.19%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $47.88 +5.29%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $7.84 +5.09%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $116.75 +3.98%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $25.13 +3.50%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $21.22 +3.06%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $34.34 +3.00%
Exelon Corp. (EXC) $34.79 +2.99%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $28.40 +2.97%
Coach Inc. (COH) $42.95 +2.97%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $30.79 -8.42%
Windstream Holdings Inc (WIN) $7.86 -8.39%
Ensco Plc. (ESV) $26.97 -5.86%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $45.10 -4.89%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $147.00 -4.75%
Noble Corporation plc (NE) $17.83 -4.29%
Rowan Companies plc (RDC) $22.94 -4.10%
Ventas Inc. (VTR) $74.54 -3.92%
HCP Inc. (HCP) $42.16 -3.59%
Macy's Inc. (M) $62.10 -3.21%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $116.75 +3.98%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $60.82 +2.48%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.42 +1.95%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $84.50 +1.21%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $164.83 +1.18%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $192.22 +1.00%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $49.22 +0.92%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.39 +0.87%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $94.98 +0.71%
American Express Co. (AXP) $80.86 +0.70%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $115.43 -0.83%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $104.67 -0.30%
Boeing Co. (BA) $154.38 -0.23%
Visa Inc. (V) $272.47 -0.20%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.34 -0.15%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $44.09 -0.14%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $84.57 -0.04%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $47.88 +5.29%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $42.48 +2.88%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $66.27 +2.78%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $36.80 +2.48%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $45.31 +2.40%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $3.91 +2.22%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $124.81 +2.20%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $33.00 +2.06%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.42 +1.95%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $25.36 +1.81%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $147.00 -4.75%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $34.81 -3.25%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $4.81 -2.83%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $60.70 -2.08%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $30.78 -1.97%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $108.97 -1.91%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $79.97 -1.74%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $204.05 -1.58%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $117.81 -1.30%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $141.39 -1.13%

S&P 500 - Risers
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $36.00 +13.67%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $58.54 +7.02%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $29.91 +5.32%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $53.91 +5.21%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $98.66 +3.87%
American Tower Corp (Reit) (AMT) $97.85 +3.38%
TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) $69.38 +3.31%
Priceline Group Inc (PCLN) $1,250.86 +2.55%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $44.43 +2.42%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $25.92 +2.39%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $34.67 -9.92%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $17.98 -9.56%
Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) $18.56 -6.26%
Rowan Companies plc (RDC) $21.57 -5.97%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $15.00 -4.70%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $85.09 -2.89%
Integrys Energy Group Inc. (TEG) $75.56 -2.85%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $44.12 -2.71%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $143.05 -2.69%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $128.73 -2.60%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $98.66 +3.87%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.91 +2.05%
American Express Co. (AXP) $82.17 +1.62%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $96.82 +1.47%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.66 +0.93%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $105.57 +0.86%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $85.15 +0.77%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $108.58 +0.57%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $61.14 +0.53%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $101.21 +0.51%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $33.94 -1.35%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $162.81 -1.23%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $114.05 -1.20%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $83.57 -1.18%
Boeing Co. (BA) $153.01 -0.89%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $106.91 -0.60%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $29.49 -0.47%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $116.31 -0.38%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $123.37 -0.36%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $191.72 -0.26%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $5.13 +6.65%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $72.18 +6.29%
Priceline Group Inc (PCLN) $1,250.86 +2.55%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $182.21 +2.50%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $44.43 +2.42%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $25.92 +2.39%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $79.16 +2.18%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $54.49 +2.14%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $385.48 +1.82%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $119.75 +1.65%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $85.09 -2.89%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $143.05 -2.69%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $128.73 -2.60%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $106.17 -2.57%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $203.53 -2.18%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $196.22 -1.74%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $74.87 -1.69%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $33.94 -1.35%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $56.50 -1.25%
Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $84.89 -1.18%