Stocks Ended Mixed after Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting kept alive a potential near-term rate hike. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.60 points, or 0.16%, to 20,775.60. The S&P 500 lost 2.56 points, or 0.11%, to 2,362.82. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.32 points, or 0.09%, to 5,860.63.

Many Federal Reserve policymakers said it may be appropriate to raise interest rates again “fairly soon” should jobs and inflation data come in line with expectations, according to the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting released on Wednesday. The minutes of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 discussion, at which the U.S. central bank voted to keep rates unchanged, also showed the depth of uncertainty at the Fed because of a lack of clarity on the new Trump administration’s economic program.

Crude-oil prices on Wednesday finished lower as concerns about growing output by producers outside of a pact to curtail global production weighed on crude futures. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for April delivery lost 74 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $53.59 a barrel. April Brent crude down 82 cents, or 1.5%, to close at $55.84 a barrel.

Tesla on Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter and topped expectations for revenues. The electric-car maker lost $0.69 per share on an adjusted basis, higher than Wall Street’s expectation for a loss of $1.04 according to Bloomberg. Its revenues totaled $2.28 billion ($2.13 billion forecast.)