US stocks climb ahead of Fed minutes

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks advanced early Wednesday as investors monitored falling US Treasury yields and awaited the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to just 1.33 percent, extending a fairly steady trend over the last month after topping 1.7 percent in the spring.

Analysts have debated the significance of the decline, seeing the pullback as reflective of ebbing concerns about inflation. On the downside, the drop in yields may also signify stocks have gotten overly enthusiastic about the growth outlook.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 34,657.93, up 0.2 percent.

Nasdaq hits new high as growth stocks advance; S&P 500 eases

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 percent to 4,355.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4 percent to 14,726.49.

Stocks mostly fell Tuesday as investors took profit after a series of record.

Investors will scrutinize the minutes from the Fed's policy meeting last month when it indicated policymakers are looking at starting to pull back on stimulus. They will be looking for any clues on when the central bank will start tapping the brakes on its massive bond buying program.