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Fed
officials were generally upbeat about the U.S. economy but some
expressed the need to keep their options open in the need of
more data pointing to strength, the minutes showed.
The dollar index, which got some respite before the release of
the data on Wednesday, fell 0.27 percent as traders saw fewer
chances of a hike.
While traders have almost completely ruled out a hike in
September, they have priced in a 41.7 percent chance for a move
in December - down from 45.1 percent on Wednesday, according to
CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Dow component Wal-Mart rose 3.3 percent to $75.34
premarket after the retailer posted better-than-expected
quarterly profit.
New York Fed President William Dudley, who on Tuesday unnerved
the markets by saying a rate hike was possible in September, is
scheduled to give a press briefing at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).
San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks on economic
outlook in Anchorage, Alaska at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Investors will also keep an eye out for a report on initial
jobless claims, which likely slipped by 1,000 to 265,000 last
week. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Brent crude hovered near $50 a barrel for the first time in six
weeks after major producers prepared to discuss a possible
freeze in output. U.S. crude was trading near $47. [O/R]
Twitter fell 2.6 percent to $19.64 after Evercore downgraded its
stock to "sell" from "hold".
Drug developer Portola <PTLA.O> plunged 18.5 percent to $19.27
after an investigational drug failed to get approval from U.S
regulators.
Cisco <CSCO.O> was off 1.7 percent at $30.20 in light trading,
after the company reported a 1.6 percent drop in revenue and
said it would cut jobs.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan and Tanya Agrawal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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