Wall Street closing mixed Wednesday

U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as investors took a bit of a breather following a four day winning streak. In international economic news, European markets finished the day higher, following gains on Asian markets. The Shanghai Composite added 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.5 percent and the Nikkei rose 0.6 percent. The dollar gained ground against the euro, the pound, and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery added 43 cents to $100.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $5.20 to $1,295.00 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.83, or 0.19 percent, to 15,963.94. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 0.49, or 0.03 percent, to 1,819.26. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 10.24, or 0.24 percent, to 4,201.29.