U.S. stocks wobble as investors await Fed minutes

By Liz Moyer 

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks wobbled on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting earlier this month.

At 10:23 ET (15:23 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite were flat.

Wall Street recorded its worst day of the year so far on Tuesday as investors worried about interest rates. The minutes of the meeting, when the Fed raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point, could provide investors with some clues about what the Fed is thinking moving forward this year.

Recent economic data show the economy still has a way to go to cool inflation. On Wednesday, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard argued in favor of a more aggressive move on rates. He has said he favored a bigger half-point increase earlier this month.

Markets still expect the Fed will raise rates another quarter of a percentage point at its meeting in March and again in May, with the benchmark rate ultimately rising above 5% by mid-summer.

New York Fed President John Williams is also expected to speak today.

Investor hopes that the Fed was nearing the end of its rate-hiking path helped fuel a rebound in growth stocks early in the year, especially in tech stocks. More recent concerns that rates would need to stay higher for longer have cooled that rally.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares rose 10.9% after the cybersecurity company raised its annual profit forecast after beating expectations in the recent quarter.

Automaker Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) rose 3.8% after full-year results beat analyst expectations and it approved a €1.5 billion stock buyback.

Oil fell. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 1.4% to $75.25 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude was down 1.5% to $81.84 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 0.2% to $1846.