By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P fell on Wednesday as a sharp drop in oil prices hurt energy shares, while a broker's upgrade of Hewlett-Packard spurred demand for U.S. technology shares and supported the Nasdaq.
Uncertainty about plans to shore up banks limited the financial sector's gains.
The rise in tech shares came after UBS raised its rating on Hewlett-Packard
On Nasdaq, Apple
But a drop of almost 7 percent in the price of U.S. front-month crude oil futures drove energy shares lower, limiting a broad-market advance a day after stocks had their best performance since late November. Oil fell as low as $42.55 a barrel, off $3.16, in mid-afternoon trading.
Even though banks mostly held onto modest gains, they were sharply off their session highs on concern that it may be some time before the Obama administration spells out the details ofhow it will relieve banks of their toxic assets.
"They keep dancing around the details of the plan," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
"These assets that are on everyone's balance sheet are just a big overhang," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 37.35 points, or 0.53 percent, to 6,889.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 3.32 points, or 0.46 percent, to 716.28. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 1.65 points, or 0.12 percent, to 1,359.93.
Exxon Mobil
An S&P index of financial shares <.GSPF> was up 0.7 percent at 97.48, but off its session high of 102.11.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
