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Stocks rose slightly on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the release of a summary from the Federal Reserve's meeting in January.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 39.68 points to pause for lunch at 25,931, as Caterpillar and DowDuPont outperformed.
The S&P 500 picked up 5.71 points to 2,785.47, led by a 1.7% jump in the materials sector.
The NASDAQ Composite tacked on 22.59 points to 7,509.13
CVS Health shares fell more than 7% after issuing a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for 2019. The company's guidance comes after closing a $70-billion deal to acquire health insurer Aetna in November.
Stocks have been on a tear lately in part because of the Fed's perceived pause on rate hikes. The Dow and NASDAQ are riding an eight-week winning streak, while the S&P 500 is up seven of the past eight weeks. Since the Fed's meeting in January, the major indexes are all up more than 4%.
The Fed said on Jan. 30 it will be "patient" in tightening monetary policy moving forward and kept interest rates unchanged. Investors will peruse the minutes, looking for more clues about how long the Fed plans to remain patient. The minutes are scheduled for release for 2 p.m. ET.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury settled, raising yields to 2.65% from Tuesday’s 2.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 99 cents to $57.08 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grew $3.10 to $1,347.90 U.S. an ounce.
