Live stock price updates: Stocks are hovering at all-time highs

Stocks traded little changed Wednesday as investors digested the new package of stronger-than-expected economic results and the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes. Any of the three global benchmarks clung to the flat line, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones near record highs. Investors have been digesting a slew of better-than-expected economic results this week, with employment gains growing more than expected, a service sector production index hitting a new high, and manufacturing output rising by the most in decades in recent months. The International Monetary Fund raised its global growth outlook for this year to 6% from 5.5 percent previously, owing largely to the rapid recovery of the US economy. In addition, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday that the present U.S. economic boom "could easily run into 2023" due to substantial fiscal and monetary policy support given to individuals and companies. Even with these encouraging signs, inflation fears that had been weighing on markets in recent weeks have at least briefly subsided, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond has fallen down toward 1.65 percent, or around 10 basis points below last week's highs. The Federal Open Market Committee's March conference, held Wednesday afternoon, also provided insight into how monetary policymakers were thinking about the circumstances necessary to justify a change in policy, as well as the pace and length of inflation that would trigger a shift. In these, "participants acknowledged that the economy was far from achieving the [FOMC's] broad-based and inclusive target of full jobs," implying that a sharper and more sustainable turnaround will be needed until policymakers consider tightening. Investors are still looking forward to the first-quarter earnings season, which is expected to prove that corporate income increased in line with improving economic conditions. In the short term, further signs of economic expansion are expected to keep equities buoyant. However, as growth begins to slow after an initial rush off last year's virus-depressed lows, the march higher in stocks could also come to a halt, according to some strategists. Tuesday's stock futures are somewhat higher. Here's where the stocks were Tuesday evening: S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 4,066.25, up 2.25 points or 0.06% Dow Jones futures (YM=F): 33,330.00, up 15 points or 0.05% Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 13,581.75, up 11.75 points or 0.09%