Today’s Fed minutes pretty much confirmed what everyone was expecting which was pretty much to validate that an interest rate hike was coming soon, perhaps as early as March since the economy is humming along so well.  There are those who disagree though, that the political environment has created so much uncertainty that more jobs and controlled inflation are no longer a given and that more time is needed, therefore no hike yet.  This of course is what the Fed has been so very careful to balance, to not commit to any hike until the economy is ready for one, and the skeptics are saying that the market is saying that the economy is not yet ready for one.  After a nearly a fifty point plunge followed by a nearly 90 point gain, the Dow ended up a modest 32 points.  But anything up is still a new record so the index has now recorded its 9^th consecutive record high, something that has not happened in 30 years.  The 6.5 billion share volume was a little below recent averages.  

BUSINESS NEWS | Wed Feb 22, 2017 | 5:54pm EST

Dow notches another record high helped by DuPont; S&P slips

By Lewis Krauskopf | NEW YORK

DJ: 20,775.60  +32.60      NAS: 5,860.63  -5.32            S&P: 2,362.82  -2.56   2/22

(Reuters)  The S&P 500 ended modestly weaker on Wednesday, holding losses after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting kept alive a potential near-term interest rate hike, while DuPont shares helped the Dow close at an all-time high for a ninth straight session.  The major U.S. indexes are trading around record highs, driven up since President Donald Trump's Nov. 8 election by the promise of lower taxes, reduced regulations and higher infrastructure spending.

Many Fed policymakers said it may be appropriate to raise rates again "fairly soon" should jobs and inflation data come in line with expectations, according to the minutes of the Fed's Jan. 31-Feb. 1 discussion released on Wednesday.

Ahead of the release of the minutes, traders were expecting a 27-percent chance of a rate hike at the Fed's March meeting, and a 53-percent chance in May, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Separately on Wednesday, Fed Governor Jerome Powell said it will be appropriate for the U.S. central bank to raise rates "perhaps relatively soon." Chair Janet Yellen said last week the Fed will likely need to raise rates at an upcoming meeting.

Recent comments by Yellen and other Fed officials appear to suggest the Fed could raise rates at its March meeting, but the "market is not there", said Walter Todd, chief investment officer with Greenwood Capital in Greenwood, South Carolina.

"I don’t see anything in the minutes that changed that narrative," Todd said. The Fed "is trying to give itself maximum flexibility to move and the market is kind of stubbornly saying 'You're not going in March'."

The S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.56 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,362.82 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 5.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,860.63.  The S&P energy sector .SPNY fell 1.6 percent as oil prices CLc1 LCOc1 dropped.

"It’s just a little breather," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "You are coming off a really strong period for stocks so to have a little bit of a respite today is not unusual."

But the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 32.6 points, or 0.16 percent, to 20,775.6.  The Dow closed at an all-time high for a ninth straight session, the longest such streak since January 1987.

The Dow was buoyed by a 3.4-percent gain in DuPont (DD.N) shares. The company is set to win antitrust approval from European Union regulators for its $130 billion merger with Dow Chemical (DOW.N), sources told Reuters. Dow Chemical's shares rose 4 percent.

A solid corporate earnings season has also encouraged investors. Profits for S&P 500 companies are on track to rise 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the best quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2014, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Toll Brothers (TOL.N) shares rose 6.1 percent after the luxury homebuilder reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.27-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.51-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 57 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 143 new highs and 31 new lows.

About 6.5 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, below the 6.8 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.