US stocks ended with modest gains yesterday. The S&P 500 rose 0.24 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.16 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite ended nearly flat, with a positive bias.

Meanwhile, the minutes of the US Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting held in January showed that the committee was well positioned to take time to assess the evolving outlook for economic activity, the labour market, and inflation, with the vast majority of policymakers pointing to a still-restrictive policy stance. Participants indicated that, provided the economy remained near maximum employment, they would want to see further progress on inflation before making additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate.