05:05 PM EDT, 05/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes closed mixed Wednesday, as markets evaluated remarks by a Federal Reserve official and the latest corporate earnings.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2% to 16,302.8, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 39,056.4. The S&P 500 was almost flat at 5,187.7. Real estate saw the steepest decline among sectors, while utilities led the gainers.

Boston Fed President Susan Collins said she's committed to bringing inflation back to the central bank's 2% target, though there's "significant uncertainty" around that outlook. "Recent data lead me to believe this will take more time than previously thought," Collins said.

In a bid to combat inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee started tightening monetary policy in March 2022, increasing its benchmark lending rate by 525 basis points through July 2023. It has held interest rates steady since then, with its latest pause coming last week.

"While we do see the economy continuing to slow and inflation coming down modestly in coming quarters, we have only two rate cuts penciled in over the balance of this year and one in 2025," Wells Fargo Investment Institute said in a Wednesday note. "The risk is that there will be fewer cuts than we expect, not more."

The US 10-year yield increased 3.7 basis points to 4.5% Wednesday, while the two-year rate grew 1.1 basis points to 4.84%.

In company news, Uber Technologies ( UBER ) logged an unexpected first-quarter loss, weighed down by its equity investments, while the ride-hailing company's gross bookings fell short of analysts' estimates. The company's shares tumbled 5.7%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500.

Vistra ( VST ) was the best performer on the S&P 500, up 9.1%, after the company's first-quarter operating revenue topped Wall Street's expectations.

Arista Networks ( ANET ) was the second-top gainer on the S&P 500, up 6.5%. The cloud networking company late Tuesday posted stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter, with gains recorded in both product and service revenue.

Intel ( INTC ) shares declined 2.2%, the biggest drop on the Dow. The chip giant said it expected its second-quarter revenue below the midpoint of its projected $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion range following the US Department of Commerce's decision to revoke certain licenses for exports of consumer-related items to "a customer in China."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.1% to $79.22 per barrel Wednesday. Commercial crude stockpiles in the US fell by 1.4 million barrels to 459.5 million barrels through the week ended May 3, the Energy Information Administration said.

In economic news, mortgage applications in the US rebounded for the first time in three weeks, as rates across all loan types fell following a weaker-than-expected jobs report last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Gold dropped 0.3% to $2,317.20 per troy ounce, while silver was little changed at $27.55 per ounce.