US stocks steady as Fed minutes support Dec hike

New York - Wall Street markets were steady on Wednesday as minutes to the Federal Reserve's last meeting supported a December rate hike.

Traders shrugged off more strengthening in the dollar and higher Treasury bond yields, after both contributed to Tuesday's losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.1% at 18 144.20 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.1% to 2 139.18, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2% to 5 239.02.

The minutes to the Fed's September meeting said the policy-makers' decision to hold off on raising the benchmark federal funds rate was a "close call".

Stocks and the dollar were unbudged by that news; for many a December rate increase is a given.

"It's been a mixed day; obviously the big news today was the release of the Fed minutes," said Bill Lynch of Hinsdale Associates.

"Looks like some of the members are a little more hawkish and want to raise rates. I think it's a foregone conclusion they're going to raise rates by a quarter of one percent in December."

In the meantime, traders focused on the glum forecasts for the third quarter earnings season.

"Wall Street analysts are expecting a fifth sequential quarterly decline" in S&P 500 company earnings, said Sam Stovall at market research house CFRA.

Apple jumped 0.9% as investors expect iPhone sales to surge after Samsung was forced to cancel production of its battery-fire prone Galaxy Note 7.

Health insurer Humana tumbled 5.1% after it received a downgraded rating from Medicaid that could lower its reimbursements from the federal programme.

Oil sector shares fell as crude prices fell more than 1%. ExxonMobil lost 0.7% and Chevron shed 0.9%.

Networking giant Cisco lost 2.3% on unexpected news that the company's chief technology officer, Zorawar Biri Singh, will leave at the end of this month. There was no reason given for Singh's sudden departure.