By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The S&P 500 climbed Wednesday, after swinging between gains and losses as the Federal Reserve’s May meeting minutes showed the central bank was keen to move quick on rate hikes to allow breathing room on tightening later this year.    

It rose by 1% and the gained 1% (227 points), respectively. The was up 1.6%.

“[P]The minutes revealed that participants agreed it was crucial to quickly shift to a neutral monetary policy position. A rise in front loading rates would give the central bank time to adjust its policies later this year. 

The minutes show that “Many participants felt that expediting the elimination of policy accommodation would allow the Committee to be well-positioned to later in the year to assess both the effect of policy firming, and whether economic developments justified policy adjustments” 

The sector that performed best was consumer discretionary stocks, as Nordstrom’s quarterly results improved sentiment about retailers.

Nordstrom (NYSE 🙂 suffered a larger than anticipated loss, however, its revenue exceeded Wall Street’s expectations and pushed it up more than 13%.

“JWN has demographics and product category skew advantages at this point in the re-open,” said Credit Suisse, but also flagged concerns about the uncertain economic backdrop of retailers in the second of half of the year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods’ (NYSE:) reported a softer outlook for the full year, but first-quarter beat on both the top and bottom lines. Its shares rose 10%

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ 🙂 had record sales. This was despite weaker than expected results and rising prices. Wall Street also pointed to strength in the retailer’s Anthropologie and Free People Movement brands.

“Despite the miss…sales at Anthro and FP Movement continue to perform well due to demand for apparel, dresses, and fashion,” B. Riley said in a note. “We continue to believe that URBN has upside as Anthro is seeing a recovery as consumers look for fashion and occassionwear.”

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:), Unter Armour Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE 🙂 and Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE 🙂 were some of the top gainers. The sector was supported by a rise in Tesla (NASDAQ :).

The leading housing stock, Toll Brothers (NYSE:) were also ascendant, ignoring recent data that pointed to a slowdown of the housing market.

Toll Brothers reports better than expected, buoyed in part by high demand for housing. However, the home builder stressed the effects of rising mortgage rates as well as soft macroeconomic conditions.

Lennar Higher were (NYSE :), PulteGroup Inc (NYSE :), and TRI Pointe Homes (NYSE :).

Technology saw some gains as major tech companies like Alphabet and Apple (NASDAQ) recovered from session lows. 

NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ:) quarterly results were more than 55% higher after market closings.

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ) rose more than 13% following the announcement by the meatless firm that it had signed an endorsement agreement with Kim Kardashian.