U.S. stocks end mixed after Beige Book

U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index refreshing previous day's closing record, as Wall Street digested the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 11.98 points, or 0.06 percent, to 18,526.14. The S&P 500 edged down 0.33 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,186.15. The Nasdaq increased 8.02 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,283.93.

According to the Beige Book released in the afternoon, reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts suggest that national economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace on balance during the reporting period of July through late August.

"Labor market conditions remained tight in most Districts, with moderate payroll growth noted in general. Price increases remained slight overall," said the Beige Book.

The Fed has been in focus recently, with investors pondering over when the U.S. central bank will decide to raise interest rates.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's monetary policy arm, is set to meet on Sept. 20-21.

On the economic front, the number of job openings increased to 5.9 million on the last business day of July, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

In corporate news, all eyes were on Apple, which unveiled its iPhone 7 at an event in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon. The tech giant's shares rose 0.61 percent to 108.36 U.S. dollars apiece after the event. Enditem