Fed minutes help stocks erase losses

U.S. stocks turned higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it’s not in too much of a hurry to raise interest rates. Retailers and technology companies led the way as the market erased some early losses.

Stocks opened lower after a business survey suggested that the eurozone economy might remain weak longer than experts expected. Investors bought U.S. and European government bonds, which pushed down yields and interest rates and hurt bank stocks.

The market turned higher after the Fed released minutes from its May meeting. Officials concluded that the Fed should be on track to keep raising interest rates gradually, and some said it wouldn’t be a problem if inflation briefly went past the Fed’s target rate of 2%. That suggests the Fed won’t raise interest rates too quickly. Investors fear a quick rise in rates because it would slow down economic growth.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 8.85 points, or 0.3%, to 2,733.29. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 52.40 points, or 0.2%, to 24,886.81. The Nasdaq composite climbed 47.50 points, or 0.6%, to 7,425.96. The Russell 2000 index edged up 2.37 points, or 0.1%, to 1,627.61.

Bitcoin, the most valuable digital coin, dropped 7% to $7,495, a six-week low, as of 1:57 p.m. It’s now down 20% since a May 4 peak.

Wednesday’s decline came after OKEx, the most active fee-charging exchange over the past day, suspended withdrawals and fiat trading to fix an error that was leading to inaccurate account balances, according to a statement on its website.

Among stocks, Tiffany sparkled as the jewelry company’s first-quarter earnings and sales blew past projections. The company also said it’s planning to buy back $1 billion of its own stock. Its stock jumped 23.3% to $126.05. Ralph Lauren jumped 14.3% to $133.33 after its own quarterly report.

Target slumped 5.7% to $71.17 after its first-quarter profit fell short of expectations. The big-box retailer said more customers visited its stores and sales improved, but it’s spending a lot of money to try to reinvent itself to better compete with Amazon.

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s surged 10.4% to $94.69. It had a mostly disappointing first quarter as harsh winter weather cut into the traditional spring sales season, but it forecast stronger sales growth for the rest of the year.

Bond prices climbed in the U.S. The yield on the 10year Treasury note fell to 2.99% from 3.06%. With interest rates in decline, banks lost ground. Stocks that pay large dividends rose.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise sank 10.5% to $15.58. The maker of data-center hardware had a strong quarter but gave up some of its gains from earlier in the year.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.5% to $71.84 a barrel. Brent crude rose 0.3% to $79.80 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline fell 0.4% to $2.26 a gallon. Heating oil rose 0.4% to $2.29 a gallon. Natural gas rose 0.2% to $2.91 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The dollar fell to 110.07 yen from 111.02 yen. The euro fell to $1.698 from $1.1779.

Gold fell 0.2% to $1,289.60 an ounce. Silver fell 1% to $16.41 an ounce. Copper slid 2% to $3.07 a pound.