S&P 500, Nasdaq End 3-Day Losing Streak After Fed Minutes

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes ended their three-day losing streak to finish in positive territory Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its September meeting.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 105 points, or 0.73%, to end at 14,571. Despite a weak opening, the S&P 500 rose 13, or 0.3%, to close at 4,363.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, on the other hand, remained flat at 34,377 points.

The US Federal Reserve's minutes from its Sept. 21-22 meeting showed that it could start tapering -- the process of reducing its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases -- as early as mid-November.

The central bank, however, left the door open to begin tapering in mid-December, which would provide markets an additional month of liquidity.

Amid the possibility of delaying tapering, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, plummeted 6.1% to 18.64.

The dollar index declined 0.51% to 94.03, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes decreased 2.6% to 1.538%.

Crude prices showed some losses, with a 0.1% decline in international benchmark Brent crude to $83.33 and a similar decline in US benchmark West Texas Intermediate to $80.58.

Precious metals were on the rise, with gold adding 1.9% to $1,793 per ounce and silver increasing 2.2% to $23.07.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also recovered to climb to positive territory with a gain of 2.9% to $57,000. -