Wall Street indexes down in choppy trade after Fed minutes

Wall Street's three major indexes were lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its September meeting that showed broad agreement for the last rate hike and expectations that borrowing costs were set to rise further.

The S&P 500 zig-zagged between positive and negative territory after the minutes were released.

Before the minutes trading had already been choppy and the S&P 500 struggled to build on the previous day's rally after disappointing housing data dragged down Home Depot and homebuilders.

At 2:16PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 83.59 points, or 0.32 percent, to 25,714.83, the S&P 500 lost 4.14 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,805.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 26.02 points, or 0.34 percent, to 7,619.47.

Of the S&P's 11 major sectors financials was the biggest gainer, up 1 percent. Consumer discretionary was the biggest loser with a 0.9 percent drop.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.78-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.60-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 10 new highs and 65 new lows.