Wall Street ends up as investors absorb Fed minutes

Wall Street put a seesaw day behind it to close higher on Wednesday, as investors digested new clues on the U.S. central bank's approach to rate policy and its inflation fight detailed in the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The 0.75 percentage-point rate increase which came out of the meeting was the first of that size since 1994. According to the minutes, participants judged that an increase of 50 or 75 basis points would likely be appropriate at the policy meeting later this month.

The minutes reflected participants' concern about rate increases having the potential for a "larger-than-anticipated" impact on economic growth.

Prior to the publication of the minutes, all three Wall Street benchmarks had endured a seesaw session, and while there were further swings between positive and negative territory in the moments after the 2 p.m. EDT release, markets built solid gains for the rest of the day.

Eight of the 11 S&P subsectors closed higher, with utilities .SPLRCU and technology .SPLRCT leading the way. The biggest outlier was the energy index .SPNY, which slipped 1.7% as crude prices fell to a 12-week low on recession fears.

$Rivian Automotive (RIVN.US)$ gained 10.4% after the electric-vehicle maker's deliveries nearly quadrupled as it ramped up production.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.31 billion shares, compared with the 13.08 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 20 new highs and 109 new lows. $SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$ $Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$