U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index rising for a seventh straight session amid eased worries over Syria.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 135.54 points, or 0.89 percent, to 15,326.60 points. The S&P 500 was up 5.14 points, or 0. 31 percent, to 1,689.13 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 4. 01 points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,725.01 points.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday night that the United States will make joint efforts with Russia and other partners to work on a United Nations resolution, making Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government give up chemical weapons.

He also asked Congress to postpone a vote on the military strike against Syria, and give more time for diplomacy to work.

The market rebounded in the past couple of weeks amid ongoing uncertainties about Syria, an indication of impressive resilience. The Dow was only some 2 percent lower than its all-time closing high of 15,658.36 points set on Aug. 2.

On the economic front, U.S. wholesale inventories and sales ticked up in July, according to the Commerce Department. Inventories at the wholesale level edged up 0.1 percent to 500 billion dollars in July from the revised June level, while sales also rose 0.1 percent.

Moreover, U.S. mortgage applications tumbled 13.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Sept. 6.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed the other two major indices, weighed on by Apple, whose shares dropped 5.44 percent to 467.71 dollars apiece as the tech giant was downgraded by several brokerages, after it unveiled the latest iPhone 5S and lower-cost iPhone 5C in an event Tuesday. The new products failed to impress consumers.

After Wednesday's gap down, it was likely to lead to at least a bit more weakness for Apple shares, with 455-460 points being a key area of support, said Mark Newton, chief technical analyst at Greywolf Execution Partners Inc, in a note on Wednesday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered as a fear gauge of the market, went down 4.89 percent to end at 13.82.

In other markets, oil prices gained Wednesday as U.S. crude inventories decreased last week. Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved up 17 cents to settle at 107.56 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery increased 25 cents to close at 111.5 dollars a barrel.

Gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.2 dollars to settle at 1,363.8 dollars per ounce on Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar continued the downward turn against major currencies Wednesday as market fears over Syria eased and demand for dollar shrank. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1. 3310 dollars from 1.3267 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5825 dollars from 1.5731 dollars.