The S&P 500 finished higher on Wednesday but below its session peak after volatile trading following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting, which showed officials laser-focused on controlling inflation even as they agreed to slow their interest rate hiking pace.
Officials at the Fed's Dec. 13-14 policy meeting agreed the U.S. central bank should continue increasing the cost of credit to control the pace of price increases, but in a gradual way intended to limit the risks to economic growth.
Investors were poring over the Fed's internal deliberations for clues about its future path. After the meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell had said more hikes were needed, and took a more hawkish tone than investors had expected back then.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 133.4 points, or 0.4%, to 33,269.77; the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 28.83 points, or 0.75%, to 3,852.97; and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 71.78 points, or 0.69%, to 10,458.76.
The S&P's rate-sensitive technology index (.SPLRCT) lost some ground after the minutes before finishing up 0.26%. Even the bank sector (.SPXBK), which benefits from higher rates, pared gains but still finished up 1.9%.
Energy (.SPNY) was the weakest of the S&P's 11 major industry sectors, closing up 0.06%, while real estate (.SPLRCR) was the strongest, closed up 2.3%, followed by a 1.7% gain in materials (.SPLRCM).
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