Stocks wobble as Fed minutes reveal more hikes still on the table | August 16, 2023

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U.S. stocks wobbled in afternoon trading Wednesday as a retail-heavy week continued with a warning from Target (TGT) and minutes from the Federal Reserve revealed "most" officials still see upside risks to inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was roughly down about 0.2%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down 0.8%. The indexes were looking to rebound from a day that saw each lose more than 1%.

Target took center stage Wednesday morning as the retailer slashed its full-year profit outlook and issued a warning about general economic malaise.

The company cited rising interest rates and uncertainty from the restart of student loan repayments as factors that may continue to affect its bottom line. However, the stock jumped more than 3% as it revealed a profit jump.

In the afternoon, minutes from the Fed's meeting last month showed most officials still see upside risks to inflation while a "couple" of officials didn't want to raise rates in July. The central bank raised interest rates to their highest point since 2001 at that meeting.

Investors were looking for any clues as to what the Fed might do at its meeting next month. At this point, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, over 90% of traders expect the bank to hold rates steady.