The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.13% higher, while the S&P 500 fell -0.46% and the Nasdaq 100 was down -1.67%
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks scrapped earlier gains to close mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 36 points higher (+0.13%) to 28032, while the S&P 500 declined 15 points (-0.46%) to 3385 and the Nasdaq 100 sank 191 points (-1.67%) to 11247.
As expected, the Federal Reserve decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 0.00%-0.25%. The central bank said it would keep interest rates near zero at least through 2023.
Energy (+4.04%), Banks (+1.43%) and Capital Goods (+1.43%) sectors performed the best, while Technology Hardware & Equipment (-2.33%), Retailing (-1.67%) and Media (-1.4%) sectors lagged behind. Energy companies such as Occidental Petroleum (+8.68% to $11.64), Diamondback Energy (+7.9% to $32.91) and Marathon Oil (+5.07% to $4.56) rallied as oil prices surged 5.0%.
General Electric (+10.66%) was the top gainer, while Illumina Inc (-8.44%) and NVIDIA Corp (-3.67%) were among the top losers.
Approximately 64.2% of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 53.7% were trading above their 20-day moving average.
U.S. official data showed that Retail Sales rose 0.6% on month in August.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield increased one basis point to 0.688%.
U.S. WTI crude oil futures (October) jumped 4.9% to $40.16 a barrel. Oil prices rose after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected reduction of 4.4 million barrels in crude-oil stockpiles.
Spot gold rose $5.00 (+0.25%) to $1,959 an ounce.
