In advance of the Fed minutes, growth stocks boost Wall Street.

The major indexes on Wall Street increased on Wednesday as growth stocks increased after a mixed bag of economic data caused Treasury yields to decline. Investors were also waiting for the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, Apple Inc. AAPL, and Meta Platforms Inc. META all saw gains between 0.4% and 0.7%.

The US economy shrank for the fifth consecutive month in November, despite a slight improvement in consumer confidence. In October, new house sales increased more than was predicted.

The conflicting information increased hopes for a 50 basis point rate increase at the Fed's upcoming meeting in December.

According to Brian Klimke, investment director at Cetera Investment Management LLC, "for the most part, they're confident that the Fed members are probably going to reveal indicators that the pace of rate hikes would lessen."

"Market participants are looking for signs of a pivot. They are eager to see some kind of evidence that the Fed is aware that inflation may be slowing down."

Wall Street's three major indexes are on track to post gains for a second consecutive month, supported by a better-than-anticipated earnings season, signs of slowing inflation, and expectations for more gradual rate increases.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving break is expected to see low trading volume, with the U.S. stock market only operating for a half-session on Friday.

At 10:23 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite IXIC was up 88.81 points, or 0.79%, at 11,263.21, the S&P 500 SPX was up 16.28 points, or 0.41%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI was up 79.42 points, or 0.23%, at 34,177.52.

On the NYSE and the Nasdaq, advancing issues exceeded declining ones by a ratio of 1.71 to 1 and 1.73 to 1, respectively.

While the Nasdaq saw 53 new highs and 73 new lows, the S&P index saw 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows.