Stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as benchmarks slide from record levels amid a sell-off of megacap technology shares, while a positive start to the first-quarter earnings season from major bank stocks supported sentiment.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday reiterated that the central bank will reduce its bond purchases before it begins to increase interest rates.

"We will reach the time at which we will taper asset purchases when we have made substantial further progress towards our goals from last December," Powell stated before the Economic Club of Washington, quoted by CNBC. "That would in all likelihood be before, well before, the time we would consider raising interest rates."

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.41% or -16.93 points to 4,124.66

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.16% or +53.62 points to 33,730.89

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.99% or -138.26 points to 13,857.84

For Stocks, Coinbase Global's (COIN  ) widely anticipated direct listing opened at $381 and jumped as high as $429, but shares quickly dropped and closed at $328.28. As Coinbase shares fell lower, tech names like Tesla (TSLA  ), Amazon (AMZN  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ), Apple (AAPL  ), Netflix (NFLX  ) and Facebook (FB  ) all declined.

For Sector Performance, sectors ended the trading session mixed, with Energy (XLE  ) being the best performer, while Information Technology (XLK  ) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ) led losses.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) slipped to three week lows on Wednesday as U.S. Treasury yields remained below their recent highs. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six other currencies, fell as low as 9.157 at one point during the session and was last down 0.11% on the day at 91.68. Gold (GLD  ) prices fell on Wednesday despite the weaker dollar. Spot gold decline 0.5% to $1,736.02 per ounce in afternoon trading, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.6% lower at $1,736.30 per ounce. Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday as a report from the International Energy Agency boosted optimism about returning demand for crude. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 4.57% to $66.58 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 4.94% higher at $63.15 each.

For Thursday, market participants will focus on fresh weekly unemployment and retail sales data, alongside earnings reports from companies like TSMC (TSM  ), Bank of America (BAC  ) and Citigroup (C  ).