U.S. stocks gain on Yellen nomination, shutdown weighs; Dow rises 0.18%

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Janet Yellen as head of the Federal Reserve, replacing Ben Bernanke, who steps down in January.

A fiscal impasses that has closed the federal government continued to drag on Wednesday, which dampened gains.

At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.18%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.06%, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.46%.

Yellen's nomination sparked demand for stocks due to her perceived dovish policy stance and tendency to favor current policies, including the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly asset purchases, which push up stock prices by driving down interest rates to spur recovery.

Weighing on gains, however, was a U.S. government shutdown that dragged on with few signs of a breakthrough ahead of an Oct. 17 deadline to raise the limit on federal debt borrowing and avoid a default sometime afterwards.

President Obama has insisted that he will only enter negotiations with congressional Republicans after the government is reopened and the U.S. debt ceiling is raised without conditions.

Still, reports that House Republicans and Senate Democrats are mulling approving short-term increases to the debt limit to stave off defaults allowed for gains despite the uncertainty.

Elsewhere, investors began to brace for a wave of earnings.

On Tuesday, Alcoa kicked off the reporting season announcing it earned USD24 million, or USD0.02 per share, in the July-September quarter, better than a loss of USD143 million, or USD0.13 cents per share during the same quarter a year ealier.

In other corporate news, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman told an analyst meeting that revenue would stabilize in fiscal year 2014 and accelerate in 2015.

Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included AT&T, up 1.96%, IBM, up 1.39%, and Goldman Sachs, up 0.88%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Merck, down 0.96%, Boeing, down 0.81%, and The Travelers Companies, also down 0.81%.

European indices, meanwhile, finished largely lower.

After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.05%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.16%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.46%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 finished down 0.44%.