NEW YORK, Feb 20 — Wall Street stocks edged higher early today ahead of Federal Reserve meeting minutes that will shed light on last month’s dovish tilt by the central bank.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up slightly at 25,901.57.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 per cent at 2,780.25, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.2 per cent to 7,499.45.

Analysts expect minutes of the Fed’s January 30 meeting to illuminate the Fed’s rationale for signaling its recent series of rate hikes was on hold. 

At the time, the Fed cited rising economic uncertainty and low inflation as reasons for its likely pause on additional rate hikes. Futures markets now see only a small chance of a rate hike in 2019.

American Airlines, United Continental and Delta Air Lines were all down about one per cent after smaller rival Southwest Airlines said the US government shutdown dented business more than previously thought.

Southwest now expects a negative revenue hit of US$60 million (RM244.2 billion), up from the previous projection of US$10 to US$15 million. Shares of Southwest slumped 4.9 per cent. — AFP