(Refiling to change "estimates" to "expectations" in third
bullet headline on Nvidia)
* Fed minutes: future 50-bp rate hikes 'likely'
* Nordstrom climbs after raising profit outlook
* Nvidia Q2 revenue forecast falls short of expectations
* Indexes up: Dow 0.60%, S&P 0.95%, Nasdaq 1.51%
NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed higher
Wednesday, boosted after minutes from the Federal Reserve's
latest monetary policy meeting showed policymakers unanimously
felt the U.S. economy was very strong as they grappled with
reining in inflation without triggering a recession.
The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's May
meeting, which culminated in a 50-basis-point hike in the Fed
funds target rate - the biggest jump in 22 years - showed most
of the committee's members judged that further such rate hikes
would "likely be appropriate" at its upcoming June and July
meetings.
"The uniformity of opinion is a good thing," said Ross
Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville,
Kentucky. "There's a lack of uncertainty of what needs to be
done in the near-term."
"By the time (the Fed) gets to September, they will have
plenty of economic data to make their move from there, so they
continue to maintain optionality," Mayfield added.
All three major U.S. stock indexes gyrated earlier in the
day amid increasing jitters stemming from business and consumer
surveys, economic data and corporate earnings reports suggesting
a cooling American economy - even as the Fed prepares to toss a
bucket of cold water on it to tackle decades-high inflation.
Fears that overly aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed
could tip the economy into recession despite evidence that
inflation peaked in March has fueled those concerns.
"Theres some credence to the idea that inflation is doing
(the Feds) job for them," Mayfield said. "Theres already a
cooling occurring, and financial conditions have tightened over
the last month because of dollar strength and equity market
weakness."
On Thursday, the Commerce Department is due to release its
second take on first-quarter GDP, which analysts expect to slow
a slightly shallower contraction than the 1.4% quarterly
annualized drop originally reported.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report will
follow on Friday, which will provide further clues regarding
consumer spending and whether inflation peaked in March, as
other indicators have suggested.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 191.66 points,
or 0.6%, to 32,120.28, the S&P 500 gained 37.25 points,
or 0.95%, to 3,978.73 and the Nasdaq Composite added
170.29 points, or 1.51%, to 11,434.74.
Nine of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 rose, with
consumer discretionary stocks leading the pack with a
gain of 2.8%.
Amazon.com Inc and Tesla Inc provided the
strongest lift to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, rising 2.6% and
4.9%, respectively.
Department store operator Nordstrom Inc surged 14.0%
on the heels of its upbeat annual profit and revenue forecasts.
Fast-food chain Wendy's Co jumped 9.8% after a
regulatory filing revealed that shareholder Nelson Peltz was
considering a potential takeover bid for the company.
Shares of Nvidia Corp fell more than 8% in
after-hours trading after the company's second quarter revenue
forecast missed expectations.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.56-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.22-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 32 new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 255 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.19 billion shares, compared
with the 13.27 billion-share average for the full session over
the last 20 trading days.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; additional reporting by Anisha
Sircar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)