NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher on Wednesday but closed well off session highs and the dollar fell on the latest turmoil in Washington and U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes that showed worries about low inflation.
U.S. Treasury yields fell with benchmark yields retreating from one-week highs after the July meeting minutes and as investors worried that a backlash against President Donald Trump's comments after a violent weekend rally would stunt his ability to deliver on his pro-business promises.Fed policymakers were ready to roll a plan to shrink its balance sheet but were increasingly wary about weak inflation and some called for a halt to interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory, according to the minutes."Maybe they're a little more malleable in their views than a lot of people thought," said Nathan Thooft, head of asset allocation at Manulife Asset Management in Boston. "Risk assets are OK with it because they don't want a shock to the upside on yields."The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> rose 25.88 points, or 0.12 percent, to 22,024.87, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 3.5 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,468.11 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 12.10 points, or 0.19 percent, to 6,345.11.U.S. stocks got a boost from the Fed minutes but still ended below their highs. Sellers emerged when Trump disbanded two high-profile advisory councils after several CEOs quit to protest his comments about violence in Charlottesville, Virginia."This calls into question the ability of the Trump administration to get anything done in terms of tax and infrastructure reforms. It's another piece of evidence of the administration's mounting problems," said John Doyle, Director of markets at Tempus Consulting in Washington.After touching its highest level in nearly three weeks earlier in the session, the U.S. dollar fell against a basket of rival currencies, after the business council news and the Fed minutes.The dollar index <.dxy> fell 0.36 percent, with the euro