By Michael Connor
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street and the dollar rose on Wednesday after minutes of a Federal Reserve policymakers meeting last month bolstered bets that the first U.S. interest-rate hike in more than a decade will not come until later in 2015 at the earliest.
According to the minutes, released ahead of a much anticipated speech on Friday by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, many officials at the April meeting believed it would be premature to raise interest rates in June.
Most participants expected a slowing U.S. economy to pick up pace after a slowdown in the first quarter, according to the minutes, but officials worried over soft consumer spending despite the fall in oil prices.
U.S. short-term interest-rate futures contracts rose modestly as traders had already priced in the unlikeliness of a June rate hike. Traders continue to see a 59 percent chance the first Fed hike will come in December, based on CME FedWatch data.
"The minutes overall depicted the Fed in a rate hike frame of mind once the economy turns the corner," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
U.S. economic growth slowed to a crawl in the first quarter, and recent data has been mixed.
U.S. stocks rose, adding to recent gains and took the S&P 500 and Dow indexes of top American companies to a new all-time intraday high.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was last up 17.35 points, or 0.09 percent, to 18,329.74, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was ahead 4.63 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,132.46 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> advanced 22.67 points, or 0.45 percent, to 5,092.70.
The dollar index of major currencies traded against the greenback was up 0.15 percent, helped by the euro's slide to two-week lows on a Greek official's warning that the country may miss a debt repayment.
The euro last traded off 0.25 percent against the dollar at $1.1124 after touching a low of $1.1063.
The dollar was last ahead 0.30 percent against the Japanese yen
Buoyant U.S. Treasuries inched up further as a June rate hike grew less likely. Safe-haven buying had already lifted the market on worries Greece may be unable to make a 300 million euro repayment to the International Monetary Fund on June 5.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury last yielded 2.2497 percent, reflecting a price gain of 3/32.
European shares, after Tuesday's 1.65 percent surge, paused for breath on Wednesday, unable to get much of a boost from the euro's weakness.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading shares got a lift from telecoms deal-making and ended 0.50 percent at nearly 1614 points <.FTEU3>.
Crude oil prices bounced up as government data showed that U.S. crude stocks fell last week for the third straight week. In the previous session, oil slid 3 percent.
Brent
(Reporting By Michael Connor in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)
