By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- The S&P 500 cut some losses Wednesday, as the release of the Fed minutes didn't provide further signs that a 50 basis point rate hike in March was in play, though upside was kept in check by ongoing Russian-Ukraine tensions.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.12%, or 42 points, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.
Federal Reserve officials were in favor of increasing interest rates and initiating a "significant" reduction in the size of balance sheet that could begin later this year, the Fed’s January meeting minutes showed Wednesday.
The minutes also showed that members would only favor faster rate hikes if the pace of inflation doesn't, cooling expectations somewhat of aggressive Fed action. The minutes, however, were somewhat stale as they preceded recent economic data showing a stronger labor market, and inflation that remains at multi-decade highs.
The two-year U.S. Treasury yields, which is sensitive to expectations Fed rate hikes, eased slightly.
The Fed minutes boosted sentiment on stocks offsetting fresh geopolitical tensions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there weren’t any signs of a “meaningful pullback" of Russian forces from the border with Ukraine. That cooled expectations for de-escalation in Ukraine-Russia tensions after Russia on Tuesday claimed that it had pulled some of its troops from the Ukraine border.
Cyclicals sectors including materials, industrials and energy led the rebound broader higher, with the latter supported by rising oil prices.
Tech moved off session lows, though social media stocks were under pressure after Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Google said it would limit ad-tracking on android powered smartphones.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB), which earlier this month flagged slowing user growth due to Apple’s privacy changes, fell more than 2%. Snap (NYSE:SNAP) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) were also down more than 3%.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) gave up some its gains from Tuesday, even as it announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover to build automated driving systems.
The chipmaker will remain in focus as it is set to report quarterly results after the closing bell.
On the economic front, meanwhile, U.S. retail sales rose by a more than expected 3.8%, the strongest monthly pace since March.