Investing.com - The broader S&P ended higher Wednesday as signs of trade progress and growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates lower for longer supported sentiment.
The S&P 500 rose 0.35%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.69%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03%.
The minutes from the Fed's recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting reaffirmed the market's consensus view on monetary policy, with a majority of members expecting rates to remain steady through the remainder of the year.
"(A) majority of participants expected that the evolution of the economic outlook and risks to the outlook would likely warrant leaving the target range unchanged for the remainder of the year," the minutes showed.
The minutes also underscored the slowdown in the economy, with Fed members saying growth was expected to bounce back in the second quarter after "markedly" slowing in the first.
Participants generally expected the growth rate of real GDP this year to "step down from the pace seen over 2018," according to the minutes.
United States 10-Year Treasury yields dropped in the wake of the minutes, ending the day down nearly 1% to 2.477%.
But shares of banks, which are vulnerable to falling yields, remained resilient.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) ended the day higher.
CEOs of America's largest banks were testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday about how the industry has transformed in the 10 years following the financial crisis.
On trade, meanwhile, investors cheered news of progress on one of the key sticking points in U.S.-China trade talks.
“We’ve pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on CNBC. “We’ve agreed that both sides will establish enforcement offices that will deal with the ongoing matters. So this is something that both sides are taking very seriously.”
For months, the Trump administration has argued an enforcement framework is important to ensure China complies with eventual terms of a trade deal.
Energy also supported the move in the broader market as oil prices managed to hold onto the bulk of their gains even as the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected.
In tech, semis rebounded from a retreat a day earlier, led by Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), up 2.2%, on the back of a bullish update from Wall Street ahead of the chipmaker's results due April 14.
S.G. Cowen raised its price target on AMD to $33 from $28, citing increased confidence in the chipmaker's competitive position against rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
AMD's near-term product launches will "inflect in the second half of the year, showing early signs of long-term EPS and revenue power," Cowen added.
In other corporate news, Levi's (NYSE:LEVI) closed 4% higher after the apparel company swung to a profit in the first quarter. The company is up more 25% since its return to the public market last month.
On the economic front, core consumer inflation came in below economists' forecasts, showing a 2% year-on-year rise through March, from 2.1% for the 12 months through February.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG), Discovery (NASDAQ:DISCA) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC), Humana (NYSE:HUM) and Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.