U.S. equities closed mostly higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. The finished 0.16 percent higher at 2,579.36, with energy leading advancers. Estee Lauder was the best-performing individual stock in the index, rising 9.2 percent. The company posted better-than-expected quarterly results. Envision Healthcare, meanwhile, was the biggest laggard, dropping 34.2 percent on weaker-than-expected earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 57 points higher at 23,435.01 after rising 140 points at its session highs. The Nasdaq composite underperformed, sliding 0.2 percent to 6,716.53 with Apple declining more 1.3 percent.

Major U.S. Indexes

The major indexes hit record highs earlier in the session — boosted by strong gains in overseas markets and rising commodity prices — before fading from those levels. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged, as was widely expected. Market expectations for a rate hike Wednesday were just 1.5 percent ahead of the announcement, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. The central bank, however, did leave the door open for a December rate hike. There was also little in the post-meeting statement Wednesday to indicate that the Fed would hold off on raising rates again soon.

Specialist trader Michael Pistillo Jr. wears a dow 23,000 hat, after the dow briefly traded above 23,000, at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, October 17, 2017. Brendan McDermid | Reuters