*

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

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Indexes: Dow down 0.03%, S&P 500 up 0.36%, Nasdaq up 0.51%

(Updates to 2:09 p.m. EDT)

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

cemented expectations for a September rate cut.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were in positive territory amid

choppy trading, with the Nasdaq out front. The blue-chip Dow was

essentially unchanged.

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.

"(The minutes) set us up for Powell's speech on Friday,

which won't tell us exactly what's going to happen at the

September meeting, but it will give us a framework," said Rob

Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth

Management in Seattle. "The other thing the market will be

listening for in his speech is the balance between inflation and

the labor market."

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.

"The good news is it was directionally consistent with

expectations," Haworth added. "And it supports the narrative the

market has been building, that the labor market is softening and

the Fed will need to start cutting rates."

At 2:08 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 10.54 points, or 0.03%, to 40,845.51, the S&P 500

gained 20.25 points, or 0.36%, to 5,617.37 and the Nasdaq

Composite added 90.64 points, or 0.51%, to 17,907.58.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer

discretionary shares were enjoying the largest

percentage gains, while financials lagged.

Target ( TGT ) raised its 2024 profit forecast and posted

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

sending the retailer's stock surging 12.6%.

TJX Cos ( TJX ) rose 6.3% 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 12.0%.

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

dropped 5.3% after Walmart ( WMT ), the company's biggest

shareholder, has sold its stake in the firm.

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

vehicle plans. Its stock rose 1.2% following the announcement.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a

2.96-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and one new low; the

Nasdaq Composite recorded 72 new highs and 59 new lows.