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STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after an initial sell-off as uncertainty about the future path of interest rates continued to weigh on investors.

The Dow shed two-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq ticked up two-tenths.

"I think right now we're still in this season of investors looking for reasons to take some profits….”

Jimmy Lee is CEO of The Wealth Consulting Group.

“And there's a lot of reasons right now. People can look at the strike, the pending government shutdown, potential fear of earnings. And I think a lot of it's due to also the Fed. And I think a lot of investors were thinking that the Fed might be done, including myself. And the Fed-speak that we've heard recently is that that may not be the case."

Among S&P 500 sectors, the rate-sensitive utilities group fell nearly 2%. Energy rose 2.5%, as Brent crude crossed $97 a barrel during the session, with the jump in oil prices posing a renewed threat to inflation.

In company news, Costco shares rose nearly 2% after the retailer topped market estimates for quarterly revenue and profit.

Investors are focused on this week’s economic data, with Thursday bringing second-quarter Gross Domestic Product and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. On Friday, the monthly personal consumption expenditures price index will provide key data on inflation.