U.S. stock indexes trimmed losses Wednesday to trade at session highs after the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting.How are stocks trading
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.21%
was down 94 points, or 0.3%, at 34,058.
The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.37%
dropped 20 points, or 0.5%, to 4,285.
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.74%
declined 118 points, or 0.9%, to 12,984.
On Tuesday, the Dow rose 240 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% to close at its highest since late April, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2%.
What’s driving markets? Minutes of the July 26-27 meeting, at which policy makers delivered a 75 basis point rise, said that Fed officials worried about the “significant risk” that elevated inflation could become entrenched if the public began to question the Fed’s resolve to hike rates by a sufficient amount to rein in inflation. On the other hand, “many” Fed officials said they were worried about the risk that the Fed could tighten the stance of monetary policy by more than was necessary. Ahead of the minutes, the appetite for additional risky bets was seen waning as investors took time out to assess the strong summer surge that powered the stock market to three-month high. Hopes that inflation may have peaked and that the Fed thus may be able to avoid delivering a h …