U.S. stocks ended mostly in positive territory Wednesday, halting a string of losses at three, as investors digested minutes from the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 21-22 policy meeting that seemed to underscore the cetnral bank’s plan to dial back its monthly purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities as evidence of inflation show that pricing pressures continue to percolate. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower but almost unchanged at about 34,378. Still, it was the fourth straight decline for the blue-chip benchmark, matching the longest losing skid ended Sept. 21, FactSet data show. The S&P 500 index closed up 0.3% at 4,363, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7% at about 14,572, and marked the best day since Oct. 7. Several Fed officials said they even preferred a more rapid reduction of the central bank’s current $120 billion pace of monthly purchases, rather than the $15 billion reduction anticipated. Data showed that the U.S. consumer-price index rose 0.4% in September after climbing 0.3% in August, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. In the 12 months through September, the CPI increased 5.4% after advancing 5.3% year-over-year in August.
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