U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as investors digested a batch of first-quarter earnings reports and key speeches from Federal Reserve officials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 32.67 points, or 0.16 percent, to 20,943.11. The S&P 500 added 2.71 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,399.63.
The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 8.56 points, or 0.14 percent, to 6,129.14.
In corporate news, shares of Disney lost 2.15 percent at 109.66 U.S. dollars for the day after the company reported earnings Tuesday after the closing bell that missed analysts' estimates. Its first-quarter diluted earnings per share increased to 1.50 dollars from 1.30 dollars year on year.
News Corp reported its first-quarter revenues to be 1.98 billion U.S. dollars, a five percent increase compared to 1.89 billion dollars in the previous year. The company registered adjusted earnings per share of 0.07 dollar, compared to 0.04 dollar in the prior year.
On the economic front, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren on Wednesday urged his policy-making colleagues to raise interest rates three more times this year and consider starting to shrink the central bank's balance sheet after their next hike to avoid creating an "over-hot economy," according to Bloomberg.
Reports said Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said that there should not be any relaxation of regulations that have tightened oversight of Wall Street.
Investors have been closely watching speeches of Fed speakers for hints about the upcoming policy decision.
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rates unchanged last week as it waited for more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook. But the Fed policymakers hinted at a possible rate hike in June.
Market expectations for a June rate hike were 87.7 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool Wednesday.
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