The Federal Reserve meeting minutes indicated the central bank will stay on track for aggressive interest rate hikes and then take some time to gauge the economy's response.
The S&P 500 and the tech-centered Nasdaq Composite both won for the second straight day. Consumer discretionary stocks paced gains on the S&P 500, with upscale retailer Nordstrom raising its quarterly profit outlook on the heels of disappointing results from Target and Walmart.
The US indexes were at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee said policy makers agreed to move the stance of monetary policy toward a neutral stance in an effort to cool down inflation. The minutes said that rate hikes of 50 basis points would likely be appropriate at the next couple of meetings.
The high degree of uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook made it important to consider risk management.
The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee were great for the equity traders as they were exactly what they wanted to hear. Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said in a note that no one wants to see the Fed being overly cautious.
Bill Merz, head of capital markets Research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said in a note to Insider that they anticipate further aggressive rate hikes and a gradual reduction of Fed bond holdings.
The PCE is the preferred inflation gauge by the Fed. Consumer price inflation was 8.3% in April.
Russia was moving towards default as the US Treasury ended a key bond payment exemption.
Cryptocurrencies are now the preferred alternative asset according to JP Morgan. Terra will split and scrap its native stable coin in the wake of its collapse.
Retail investors are buying the dip in stocks even though their portfolio has lost 32%.
Oil prices went up. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude was $1111.58 per barrel. The international benchmark for crude oil climbed 1.2% to $111.96.
The price of gold fell to $1,851.20 per ounce. The 10-year yield fell.
The price of the virtual currency rose 1.6% to $29,884.11.
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