Wall Street gained overnight recovering from earlier losses, after minutes from the June Federal Reserve meeting cemented bets US interest rates won't rise any time soon, while the latest data on the US economy were better than expected.
Last month's weaker-than-expected US jobs data as well as the prospect of a Brexit weighed on the decision of Fed officials to keep rates steady at the June 14-15 meeting.
"Participants generally agreed that it was advisable to avoid overreacting to one or two labour market reports; however, the implications of the recent data on labour market conditions for the economic outlook were uncertain," according to the Federal Open Market Committee minutes from the June meeting, released on Wednesday.
"Members generally agreed that, before assessing whether another step in removing monetary accommodation was warranted, it was prudent to wait for additional data regarding labour market conditions as well as information that would allow them to assess the consequences of the UK vote for global financial conditions and the US economic outlook," the minutes noted.
Wall Street gained, following a decline earlier in the session. In 3.06pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.7 percent. In 2.50pm trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.3 percent.