U.S. stocks remained slightly higher on Wednesday afternoon, as investors digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting, which showed a majority of central bank officials agreed on a 25-basis-point rate hike.How stock indexes are trading
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.45%
was up 50 points, or 0.2%, to 33,179.
S&P 500
SPX,
-0.38%
gained 11 points, or 0.3%, to 4,009.
The Nasdaq
COMP,
-0.16%
advanced 59 points, or 0.5% to 11,551.
On Tuesday, the Dow fell nearly 700 points, or 2.1%, while the S&P 500 declined 2% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.5%, making it the worst day of 2023 so far for all three major indexes.
What’s driving markets U.S. stocks edged up Wednesday after posting the biggest daily selloff in over two months as concerns about higher borrowing costs continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Traders were assessing the minutes of the Fed’s Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting for more insight on the central bank’s future monetary-tightening plans. In their discussion, “almost all participants” agreed that it was appropriate to raise the fed-funds rate by 25 basis points, or quarter of a percentage point, to a target range of 4.5% to 4.75%, with a few stating that they favored a 50 basis point move. Meanwhile, a “number” of Fed officials noted that financial conditions had eased, “which some noted could necessitate a tighter stance of monetary policy.” The minutes also show that all Fed officials were supporting further increases in the interest rates. See: Fed minutes show ‘some’ officials thought easier financial conditions could mean tighter monetary policy Last week, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said they had argued for a 50-basis-point hike in the fed-funds rate at the February meeting earlier this month. Bullard continues to expect a peak fed-funds rate of 5.38% , or a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. Bullard on Wednesday said he thought markets had previously “overpriced” the risk of recession in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, and the economy is more resilient than many investors have thought. Bullard and Mester are not voting members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year. “This is the market reading into those comments from Fed officials, looking at the inflation data as well as other reports that seem to suggest that, number one, the labor market is still very very tight — you’re really not seeing softness there yet. And the fact that from an ac …