(Updates with preliminary prices at market close)

By Sinéad Carew and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

Oct 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street's three main stock indexes

closed higher on Wednesday as investors digested Federal Reserve

meeting minutes ahead of September inflation data and earnings

reports, but Alphabet shares fell on fears the U.S. would break

up Google.

Shares in market heavyweight Alphabet fell after

the U.S. Department of Justice said it may ask a judge to force

Google to divest parts of its business. These include its Chrome

web browser and its Android operating system, to curtail its

search monopoly.

Stocks held roughly steady right after the Fed's September

meeting minutes showed a "substantial majority" of officials

supported an outsized half-point rate cut. However, there was

broader agreement that the move would not commit the Fed to any

particular pace of cuts in the future.

Traders were last pricing in an 80% chance of a

25-basis-point reduction in borrowing costs and a 19%

probability the Fed keeps rates on hold, according to CME's

FedWatch.

"The minutes confirmed what we'd thought all along and

relieved investors. There was a debate about the 50 basis point

cut, meaning that it wasn't a sweeping consensus that we needed

to do a drastic 50 basis point cut," said Lindsey Bell, chief

strategist at 248 Ventures in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The market is awaiting the Consumer Price Index inflation

report due on Thursday morning and the third-quarter corporate

earnings season, which kicks off in earnest with some of the

biggest U.S. banks reporting on Friday.

"The minutes were also further confirmation that the Fed

believes they've won the fight on inflation. So tomorrow's CPI

number shouldn't be too much of a surprise," said Bell.

Trading has been choppy this week, with investors adjusting

rate-cut expectations after a surprisingly strong September jobs

report suggested a U.S. economy that is in better shape than

investors had feared.

"There's an air of optimism in the market since the Friday

jobs report. Investors remain optimistic on the soft- to

no-landing scenario," she said, referring to the possibility

that the economy might even avoid a mild recession.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 40.45 points, or 0.70%, to end at 5,791.58 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 108.91 points, or

0.60%, to 18,291.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 432.48 points, or 1.03%, to 42,512.85.

While most of the S&P 500's 11 industry sectors rose,

concern about Google cast a shadow on communications services

.

"News about antitrust initiatives create worries about what

that means for the technology sector broadly and specifically

the most dominant players," said Daniel Morris, chief market

strategist for asset management at BNP Paribas.

Investors were also monitoring for potential damage from

Category 5 Hurricane Milton, due to make landfall in Florida on

Wednesday.

Among prominent stocks, Boeing ( BA ) shares fell after

talks between the company and its key manufacturing union broke

down.

Among gainers, shares of Norwegian Cruise Line ( NCLH )

outperformed the broader market sharply after Citi upgraded its

rating to "buy." Its peers Carnival and Royal Caribbean

Cruises ( RCL ) also rose.

Shares of Arcadium Lithium ( ARLTF ) soared after Rio Tinto

said it would acquire the miner for $6.7 billion.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms dropped as investors

continued to question if China would announce new stimulus

measures. Shares in Alibaba Group ( BABA ) and PDD Holdings ( PDD )

declined.