Equities ended narrowly mixed Wednesday with growth stocks beating value on strength in megacaps. The Dow industrial average slipped 0.2 percent; the S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq was up 0.3 percent. US Treasury yields and the dollar dropped while oil prices rose.

Markets focused on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Powell's comment that he would not rule out consecutive rate increases but the impact was limited given recent Fed commentary and dot plot projections.

Breadth remained positive and sectors mixed. Communications services, consumer discretionary, industrials, and energy outperformed while lagging were financials, materials, utilities, and consumer staples.

Megacaps had another good day with attention focused on Apple, which reached a record high on no news, and appeared headed for a $3 trillion market capitalization. Other megacap winners included Netflix, on favorable analyst comments, and Tesla, the momentum favorite.

Energy shares benefited from a rally in oil prices after news of an unexpected drop in US oil inventories. On the downside, chipmakers including Nvidia had a bad day on concern that the US may expand restrictions on exports to China.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.