Stocks Ended Up after Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks ended up slightly on Wednesday, but off the day’s highs, following minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting suggested policymakers are worried about weak inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.88 points, or 0.12%, to 22,024.87. The S&P 500 gained 3.50 points, or 0.14%, to 2,468.11. The Nasdaq Composite added 12.10 points, or 0.19%, to 6,345.11.

The minutes from the Fed’s meeting in July showed that most Fed officials wanted to wait until the next monetary meeting to unveil details on its planned unwinding of its $4.5 trillion in bondholdings, indicating an announcement is possible in September. The Fed also discussed the surprisingly low inflation readings, with a few officials noting that the Fed could be patient before raising interest rates again.

Oil settled lower Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration report revealed a weekly climb in domestic production to the highest level in over two years. September West Texas Intermediate crude shed 77 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $46.78 a barrel. October Brent crude fell 53 cents, or 1%, to $50.27 a barrel.

Cisco Systems Inc’s (CSCO) revenue fell for the seventh straight quarter as declines in its switches and routers businesses outpaced gains at its newer software-focused divisions, such as security. The company said revenue fell nearly 4 percent to $12.13 billion in the fourth quarter ended July 29, compared with a year earlier. Net income fell to $2.42 billion, or 48 cents per share, from $2.81 billion, or 56 cents per share.