U.S. stocks waver after Fed minutes

U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range in the morning session on Thursday, as the newly-released minutes from Federal Reserve's October meeting bolstered expectations of a December rate hike.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 3.37 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,733.79. The S&P 500 lost 1.94 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,081.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index ticked up 2.42 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,077.63.

According to the minutes, most participants anticipated that, based on their assessment of the current economic situation and their outlook for economic activity, the labor market, and inflation, these conditions could well be met by the time of the next meeting.

"Rates are going to rise on December 16 unless clear evidence the economy has broken emerges in the next few weeks," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note Thursday.

Most analysts believed that the U.S. central bank will begin raising interest rates next month.

On the economic front, in the week ending Nov. 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims were 271,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

In corporate news, shares of Best Buy dropped more than 3 percent by noon even after the company announced better-than-expected quarterly profit. Enditem