*

Fed's July minutes bolster Sept rate cut hopes

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Target ( TGT ) jumps after lifting FY profit forecast

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JD.com slides after Walmart ( WMT ) sells $3.74 bln stake

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Labor Dept issues biggest downward benchmark payrolls

revision

since Great Recession

(Updates to market close)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) -

U.S. stocks inched higher on Wednesday amid range-bound

trading after investors parsed a steep downward revision in

payrolls, and the release of the minutes from the most recent

meeting of the Federal Reserve, which cemented expectations for

a September rate cut.

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed modestly higher.

"The seasonality of things, waiting for Jackson Hole,

waiting to see whether there will be a Fed cut in September or

not - it's causing bulls and bears to sit on the sidelines,"

said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire

Advisors in New York. "There's no compelling reason to do

anything right now."

The Fed released minutes from its most recent monetary

policy meeting in July, at which members of the Federal Open

Market Committee elected to keep the key interest rate

unchanged.

The July meeting occurred before the disappointing

employment report for that month and a host of economic reports

pointing to cooling inflation and a softening but resilient

economy.

Even so, the minutes suggest Fed officials were already

strongly leaning toward a rate cut at the meeting scheduled for

September.

They also set the stage for the Jackson Hole Economic

Symposium to convene on Thursday, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell

will speak on Friday.

In economic news, the Labor Department released its

preliminary benchmark revision to payrolls data for the 12

months through March 2024.

The revision lowered the 2.9 million payroll adds originally

reported by 818,000. It was the steepest preliminary downward

revision since the global financial crisis, and suggested that

the apparent softening in the labor market could be more

pronounced than previously assumed.

"Prior to today's labor market data, the enthusiasm around

Powell's speech (on Friday) was probably fairly muted," said

Pursche. "That changed today.

"This revision, which was a big number, is putting Chairman

Powell in a position where he's going to have to talk about the

outlook for the labor market," Pursche added.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 22.54 points, or 0.40%, to end at 5,619.66 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 101.27 points, or

0.57%, to 17,918.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 58.99 points, or 0.14%, to 40,893.96.

Target ( TGT ) raised its 2024 profit forecast and posted

its first quarterly increase in same-store sales in over a year,

boosting the retailer's stock.

TJX Cos ( TJX ) rose after the discount retailer lifted its

annual profit forecast.

Macy's lowered its annual net sales forecast, sending

shares of the department store chain sliding.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com

dropped after Walmart ( WMT ), the company's biggest

shareholder, sold its stake in the firm.

Ford Motor ( F ) announced it was shaking up its electric

vehicle plans. Its stock advanced following the announcement.