While you were sleeping: UPDATED Fed minutes cement December hike

Wall Street rose, as did the US dollar, after minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting underpinned bets the central bank will increase interest rates in December.

"December was already priced in so this is just confirming," Columbia Threadneedle Investments senior vice president and director of US equities Melda Mergen told Bloomberg. "I think they will definitely go in that direction unless something big happens."

US stocks rose. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15.54 points, or 0.1%, to 18,144.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index eased 0.1% to 5239.02 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.1% to 2139.18.

"Several members judged that it would be appropriate to increase the target range for the federal funds rate relatively soon if economic developments unfolded about as the committee expected," according to minutes of the FOMC's September meeting.

"It was noted that a reasonable argument could be made either for an increase at this meeting or waiting for some additional information on the labour market and inflation."

Job openings fall
Meanwhile the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed job openings fell 388,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.4 million in August, the lowest level in eight months.

"This might seem like a huge drop but the key point here is that the JOLTS numbers have been inexplicably strong over the past few months, relative both to other indicators of the pace of hiring and the official payroll numbers," Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson said, according to Bloomberg.

"Further declines over the next few months would be no big deal, provided the nascent recovery in other hiring measures continues."

Investors will scrutinise Friday's speech by Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen for any further clues on the timing of a rate hike. The Fed's policy makers next meet November 1-2.

In the Dow, gains by Nike and Apple, up 1.2% and 0.9% respectively, outweighed slides in Cisco and Chevron shares, down 2.2% and 0.9% respectively.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended with a fall of 0.5%, amid disappointing earnings including from Ericsson.

France's CAC 40 Index fell 0.4%, Germany's DAX Index declined 0.5%, while the UK's FTSE 100 Index slid 0.7% after hitting an all-time high on Tuesday when the pound crashed to an historic low.

Shares of Premier Foods, which rejected a takeover offer by the US-based McCormick earlier this year, tumbled after the UK company downgraded its full-year sales estimates because warm weather reduced sales of its gravy and stocks products as well as its desserts.

"We are disappointed our grocery business reported materially lower sales in the quarter due to warmer weather; particularly in September," chief executive Gavin Darby said.

Shares of Premier Foods closed 6.2% lower in London.

(BusinessDesk)