Wall Street sets new record highs after Fed's minutes

U.S. stock indices closed higher for the fifth session in a row, marking new record highs for S&P 500, after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the May 2-3 meeting, at which Federal Open Market Committee members voted to hold overnight interest rates steady at between 0.75% and 1 percent.

FOMC members expect the economic conditions to develop in a way that allows for gradual tightening of the policy, with a path that ends just below the projected interest rates levels in the long term.

They also asserted that the actual path of short-term overnight interest rates depends on economic projections and data, while the Fed carries on its current policy of reinvesting its holdings of debt, mortgage-backed securities, and treasury bills and selling them in public auctions to trim them down from their current high levels in the long term, and in order to keep the financial conditions accommodative.

 Dow Jones rose 0.36%, or 74.51 points to 21,012.42, while Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.25%, or 5.97 points to 2,404.39, as NASDAQ Composite gained 0.40%, or 24.31 points to 6,163.02. 

Gold futures due on June 15 rose 0.22% to $1,258.20 an ounce from the opening of $1,255.50, while the dollar index fell 0.30% to 97.06 from the opening of 97.35. 

Otherwise, U.S. crude futures due on June 15 fell 0.39% to $51.27 a barrel from the opening of $51.47, while Brent crude futures due on July 16 slipped 0.42% to $53.92 a barrel from the opening of $54.15.