U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as investors remained in a cautious mood following another mixed batch of earnings reports. The dollar gained ground against the pound and the yen, but lost ground versus the euro. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery rose $1.76 to $96.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped $3.20 to $1,238.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 41.1, or 0.25 percent, to 16,373.34. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 1.06, or 0.06 percent, to 1,844.86. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index moved up 17.24, or 0.41 percent, to 4,243.00.
