Wall Street, dollar rise as June rate-hike prospects dim

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 was last up 17.35 points, or 0.09 percent, to 18,329.74, the S&P 500 was ahead 4.63 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,132.46 and the Nasdaq Composite 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 to just over 121 yen, a level not seen for two months.

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 .

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 jumped 1.5 percent to $64.97 a barrel, while U.S. crude settled up 1.7 percent to $58.98. Both shed more than $2 a barrel on Tuesday.

(Reporting By Michael Connor in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)