U.S. stocks were near flat on Wednesday as President Donald Trump`s move to disband his manufacturing council as well as the strategy and policy forum added to worries about the future of the White House`s agenda.
Stocks briefly regained some ground after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting. The minutes showed policymakers appeared increasingly wary about recent weak inflation and some called for a halt to further interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory.
Trump`s move came after two more CEOs resigned from the manufacturing council on Wednesday in response to the president`s comments on the Charlottesville violence over the weekend.
"That throws a little bit more doubt into the president`s abilities to push his policies through," said David Schiegoleit, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management in Newport Beach, California.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> was up 21.62 points, or 0.1 percent, to 22,020.61, the S&P 500 <.spx> had gained 1.79 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,466.4 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> had added 5.26 points, or 0.08 percent, to 6,338.27.
Fed policymakers unanimously decided to keep interest rates unchanged in the July 25-26 meeting and said they planned to reduce the central bank`s massive holdings of bonds "relatively soon".
A slide in inflation readings in recent months, which remain below the Fed`s 2 percent target rate, have made the markets sceptical about a rate hike by December.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.51-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 49 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 98 new highs and 85 new lows.
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
12:39 AM IST