Dow Ends Day Down 99

An early rally on the stock market was mostly gone by the closing bell, leaving indexes with a mixed finish after being up most of the day. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 99 points Wednesday, or 0.6%, to 15,914. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped a fraction of point to 1,851. The Nasdaq climbed 14 points, or 0.4%, to 4,283.

Materials and energy companies fell more than the rest of the market Wednesday. Murphy Oil sank 6%. Several media companies slumped. Disney helped drag the Dow lower after reporting that its cash-cow sports network ESPN had hit a soft patch. Traders were encouraged to hear Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen say that the central bank will be cautious about raising interest rates. (More Dow Jones stories.)