US stocks fall after Fed minutes

New York - US stocks Wednesday finished lower after minutes from the latest US Federal Reserve meeting showed some policymakers sought an early hike in the Fed's benchmark interest rate.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 87.85 (0.54%) to 16 043.

The broad-based S&P 500 slumped 11.92 (0.65%) to 1 829, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 34.83 (0.82%) at 4 238.

The bulk of the losses came after the minutes from the central bank's end-January policy meeting were released at 14:00 GMT.

"Two PM was when this downward movement began," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG.

The minutes revealed the policy makers were increasingly upbeat, and that even though the majority still saw their benchmark short-term rate staying at the ultra-low level of 0-0.25% until 2015, "a few" favored higher raising the rate "relatively soon," some even pointing to mid-2014.