Stocks Ended Higher after Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday as investors digested the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 240.29 points, or 0.93%, to 26,202.73. The S&P 500 climbed 23.92 points, or 0.82%, to 2,924.43. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 71.65 points, or 0.90%, to 8,020.21.

U.S. oil futures settled lower Wednesday after the government reported a weekly decrease in domestic crude supplies. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery fell by 45 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $55.68 a barrel. The October contract for Brent crude rose 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $60.30 a barrel.

Federal Reserve officials at their meeting on July 30-31 agreed to cut short-term interest rates but shied away from saying how many more steps they might be willing to take this year to ease monetary policy.The minutes of the July meeting, released Wednesday, reveal that the Fed governors and regional bank presidents generally favored an approach “that avoided any appearance of following a preset course.”