12:40 PM EDT, 03/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark stock indexes rose after trading mixed, while government bond yields declined after midday on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to 5,218.2, hovering close to its record. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to 16,332.8, erasing earlier declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6% to 39,520.5, close to the record 40,000 mark. Utilities and real estate led sectors gains, while only technology and communications services dropped.

Fed Board Governor Christopher Waller, known to be a policy hawk, is scheduled to deliver a speech on Wednesday. Investors will look for his take on the Federal Reserve's decision last week to leave the number of interest-rate cuts unchanged for this year while increasing the forecast for inflation. This decision followed stronger-than-expected gains in February's consumer and producer prices.

The US Treasury two-year yield fell 3.1 basis points to 4.57%, while the 10-year yield slid to 4.2%, a decline of 3 basis points.

Meanwhile, in economic news, wholesale inventories fell 0.2% in January based on annual revisions released by the Census Bureau Wednesday, an improvement from the 0.3% decline previously reported. December wholesale inventories were up 0.5%, an upward adjustment from the 0.4% gain previously reported.

Mortgage applications decreased for the second consecutive week as homebuyers held out for lower interest rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The market composite index retreated 0.7% for the week ended March 22 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The move followed a 1.6% fall the week before.

In company news, Cintas ( CTAS ) reported stronger-than-expected sales and earnings growth for fiscal Q3 and boosted d its full-year outlook. Shares of the uniform supplier surged 8.8%, the largest advance on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Merck's ( MRK ) shares jumped 3.9%, the biggest gain on the Dow, after the company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its drug Winrevair as a treatment for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.3% to $81.38 a barrel.