Markets mixed, Fed seen dovish

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent while the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.3 percent but the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent.

Market mood was kept subdued as the Federal Reserve released minutes on Wednesday of its last monetary policy meeting, which showed that the Fed viewed a “near-term” increase in interest rates as possible but that officials were concerned about persistently low inflation.

“Overall, we read the November minutes as dovish,” said a team of BNP Paribas economists led by Paul Mortimer-Lee.