Dow And S&P 500 Post Modest Gains, Nasdaq Remains Firmly Negative

(RTTNews) - After falling sharply over the course of the two previous sessions, stocks fluctuated throughout the trading day on Wednesday before ending the session mixed.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed positive sentiment generated by news of the nomination of Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve Chairman against continued concerns about the ongoing government shutdown.

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although considerable weakness remained visible among biotechnology stocks. The NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index regained some ground after hitting a three-month low but still fell by 1.6 percent.

Among biotech stocks, shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) plummeted by 66 percent after the oncology company said it is pausing patient enrollment in all clinical studies involving its leukemia drug Iclusig.

Electronic storage and networking stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, helping to keep the tech-heavy Nasdaq in negative territory.

While the Dow and the S&P 500 managed to finish the day modestly higher, the Nasdaq fell to its lowest closing level in a month.

The Nasdaq slid 17.06 points or 0.5 percent to 3,677.78, while the Dow crept up 26.45 points or 0.2 percent to 14,802.98 and the S&P 500 inched up 0.95 points or 0.1 percent to 1,656.40.