At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,282, up 16.32 points (0.09 percent).
The S&P 500 finished down 0.78 of a point (0.04 percent), narrowly missing a record for a second straight day. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 13.64 (0.30 percent) to 4,579.79.
Shares of Alibaba bolted 38.1 percent higher to $93.89 on its first day of trade after its IPO raised $25 billion, the largest in history on any market.