us stocks remained slightly higher on wednesday afternoon as investors digested the minutes from the federal reserves most recent policy meeting which showed a majority of central bank officials agreed on a 25basispoint rate hike on tuesday the dow fell nearly 700 points or 21 while the sp 500 declined 2 and the nasdaq composite dropped 25 making it the worst day of 2023 so far for all three major indexes us stocks edged up wednesday after posting the biggest daily selloff in over two months as concerns about higher borrowing costs continued to weigh on investor sentiment traders were assessing the minutes of the feds jan 31feb 1 policy meeting for more insight on the central banks future monetarytightening plans in their discussion almost all participants agreed that it was appropriate to raise the fedfunds rate by 25 basis points or quarter of a percentage point to a target range of 45 to 475 with a few stating that they favored a 50 basis point move meanwhile a number of fed officials noted that financial conditions had eased which some noted could necessitate a tighter stance of monetary policy the minutes also show that all fed officials were supporting further increases in the interest rates see fed minutes show some officials thought easier financial conditions could mean tighter monetary policy last week st louis fed president james bullard and cleveland fed president loretta mester said they had argued for a 50basispoint hike in the fedfunds rate at the february meeting earlier this month bullard continues to expect a peak fedfunds rate of 538  or a range of 525 to 55 bullard on wednesday said he thought markets had previously overpriced the risk of recession in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023 and the economy is more resilient than many investors have thought bullard and mester are not voting members of the ratesetting federal open market committee this year this is the market reading into those comments from fed officials looking at the inflation data as well as other reports that seem to suggest that number one the labor market is still very very tight  youre really not seeing softness there yet and the fact that from an activity standpoint youre seeing signs of reacceleration said jake jolly head of investment analysis at bny mellon investment management all of that paints a picture of an economy that is really inconsistent and that translates into a federal reserve that really needs to keep its foot on the brake jolly told marketwatch via phone seedoubling down strategist who revels in challenging the consensus sticks by her call for 8 fedfunds rate us stocks marched higher to kick off the year on hopes that easing inflation might allow the fed to start cutting interest rates which have increased steadily since march 2022 later in the year however recent data has shown that inflation remains stubbornly high well above the feds 2 annual target and that the us economy remains resilient despite the feds sharp tightening of monetary policy which has pushed bond yields higher in anticipation of further fed hawkishness the market reprices information quickly said eric merlis managing director and cohead of global markets at citizens the stock markets recent retreat is a recognition that the fed has more to go with its interestrate hikes and may not be easing its monetary policy this year merlis said in a phone interview need to knowheres why one technical analyst says the stock market is due a bounce after the 697point selloff in the dow