Midday Report: US Equity Indices Mixed, Treasuries Gain Ahead of Federal Reserve Policy Meeting Minutes

US equity benchmarks were mixed in choppy trade while government bonds rose after midday on Wednesday.

Traders will look for clues about the pace of interest-rate increases this year after the Federal Open Market Committee releases its May policy meeting minutes at 2 pm.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 0.2% to 31,861.5 after earlier trading higher. The S&P 500 climbed by 0.1% to 3,944.2, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% higher at 11,312.8.

All sectors were in the red barring consumer discretionary and energy.

The US 10-year yield was unchanged at 2.76%, recovering from intraday declines.

In economic news, new orders for US durable goods rose 0.4% in April following a downwardly revised 0.6% increase, below expectations for a 0.6% gain in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Mortgage applications fell last week as interest rates remained elevated despite declining for the second straight week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The market composite index, which measures loan applications, fell 1.2% for the week ended May 20 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The refinance index fell 4% from a week ago and was 75% down annually.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose by $0.33 to $109.81 a barrel.

Excluding inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, US commercial crude oil stocks fell by 1 million barrels during the week ended May 20 following a 3.4 million barrel drop reported in the previous week and compared with a 2.1 million barrel decline expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In company news, Intuit INTU reported an increase in fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings per share and revenue from a year ago. The company also raised its full-year fiscal 2022 guidance for both sales and earnings. Shares jumped 7.7% intraday, among the top performers on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Gold was down 1.2% to $1,844 per troy ounce, and silver was down 0.9% to $21.88 per ounce. Among energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund was up 0.1% to $82.04, and the United States Natural Gas Fund was up 3.5% to $31.17.