Stocks rise as investors absorb Fed minutes

STORY: Stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday, after a seesaw session, as investors absorbed details on the Federal Reserve's position on interest rates in minutes from its latest policy meeting.

Kevin Nicholson, chief investment officer at Riverfront Investment Group, said the minutes from the June meeting showed Fed officials determined to fight inflation.

"This serves as a reminder to investors that the Fed is going to be hawkish because we've been having a bit of a tug of war between recession and inflation fears over the last couple of weeks. And we've seen yields come down in the fixed income markets because of that. But I think that the Fed minutes reiterated that they're going to fight inflation at all costs. And that's why we're seeing yields move up a couple of basis points."

Most traders are predicting another 75-basis-point interest rate hike at the Fed's next meeting later in July.

Meanwhile, a report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed U.S. job openings fell less than expected in May, pointing to a still-tight labor market that could keep the Fed on its aggressive path.

The Dow rose about a quarter of a percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each added about a third of a percent.

Shares of Uber Technologies and DoorDash fell, after Amazon.com agreed to take a 2% stake in food delivery business Grubhub.

Shares of Amazon rose about three quarters of a percent.

Shares of Rivian Automotive, which Amazon also has a stake in, gained more than 10% after the EV maker's deliveries nearly quadrupled as it ramped up production.

Shares of Tesla, the world's largest electric-car maker, fell half of a percent.