Wall Street advanced overnight, while US Treasuries fell as investors await Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech this Friday at the annual gathering of the world's top central bankers in Jackson Hole for her take on the outlook for higher interest rates.
Minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, held July 29-30, showed that US policy makers were optimistic about the progress of the pace of recovery in the world's largest economy and that there was a possibility they might have to lift the benchmark interest rate sooner than expected.
"Participants generally agreed that labour market conditions and inflation had moved closer to the Committee's longer-run objectives in recent months, and most anticipated that progress toward those goals would continue," according to the minutes.
"Moreover, many participants noted that if convergence toward the Committee's objectives occurred more quickly than expected, it might become appropriate to begin removing monetary policy accommodation sooner than they currently anticipated," the minutes showed.
In late afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.43 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.24 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index eked out an advance of 0.01 per cent. Earlier in the session the S&P 500 fell as low as 1,977.68 and rose as high as 1,987.68.
