U.S. stocks extended gains on Wednesday, with the S P 500 posting a new closing record, as Wall Street meditated on the Federal Reserve's minutes released in the afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 74.51 points, or 0.36 percent, to 21,012.42.
The S P 500 rose 5.97 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,404.39.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 24.31 points, or 0.40 percent, to 6,163.02.
Wall Street paid attention on how the central bank might start shrinking its 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars balance sheet and tried to find clues on its next move.
Most Federal Reserve officials see it appropriate to raise interest rate soon if economy continues to improve, minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting showed Wednesday.
"Most participants judged that if economic information came in about in line with their expectations, it would soon be appropriate for the (Federal Open Market) Committee to take another step in removing some policy accommodation," said the minutes released in the afternoon.
The Fed policymakers are slated to meet next month and hinted at a possible rate hike in June. Market expectations for a June rate hike were 78.5 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool Wednesday.
The U.S. central bank left its benchmark interest rates unchanged earlier this month as it waited for more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook.
During the May meeting, Fed officials also discussed plans to reduce the central bank's 4.5-trillion-U.S. dollar balance sheet.
According to the minutes, nearly all policymakers favored a plan to increase caps or limits on the amount of Treasury and agency securities that would be allowed to run off each month.
On the economic front, U.S. existing-home sales slipped 2.3 percent in April, said the National Association of Realtors Wednesday.
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