(Updates to afternoon)

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Target ( TGT ) drops after missing quarterly comparable sales

estimates

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Indexes slightly pare gains after Fed minutes

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Indexes: Dow down 0.1%, S&P 500 up 0.2%, Nasdaq up 0.4%

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq

edged higher in volatile trading on Wednesday as technology

stocks rose ahead of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly results, while the Dow

eased.

Indexes pared gains after minutes from the last Federal Reserve

meeting showed policymakers cautioned that lower borrowing costs

could undermine the fight against inflation. The Fed cut rates

by a quarter of a percentage point at each of its meetings in

September and October.

Worries about a cooling labor market persisted ahead of

Thursday's release of the September U.S. jobs report following

the record-long U.S. government shutdown. The U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics said it will not publish the October employment

report, but will instead combine nonfarm payrolls for that month

with November's report.

"A lot has changed since the Fed last met, but it seems as

though the biggest disagreement among Fed officials was the

timing of the next move, not the magnitude or direction," said

Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) were up 1.7%, with its earnings seen

as a test for the artificial intelligence-driven rally that has

pushed the market to record highs this year.

The stock is "almost guaranteed to be volatile," following

the report, said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at

Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

"When you're the biggest company out there, you're sort of

in the headlights, and it often does not make sense how the

stock reacts in the short term," he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.77 points,

or 0.12%, to 46,038.42, the S&P 500 gained 14.54 points,

or 0.22%, to 6,631.86 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

95.36 points, or 0.42%, to 22,527.61.

Investors have worried about how companies will be able to

make money from their huge investments in AI.

Options data from analytics firm Option Research &

Technology Services (ORATS) showed an implied move of about 7%

for Nvidia's ( NVDA ) stock in either direction after its results.

Among decliners, Target ( TGT ) shares slipped after the

retailer reported a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly sales

with cash-strapped U.S. consumers pulling back on discretionary

spending.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.03-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE, where there were 52 new highs and 186 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,574 stocks rose and 3,006 fell as declining

issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.91-to-1 ratio.