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Target ( TGT ) drops after missing quarterly comparable sales

estimates

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Indexes briefly pare gains after Fed minutes

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September US jobs report due on Thursday

(Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) -

U.S. stocks ended a choppy session higher on Wednesday,

rebounding from recent losses as technology stocks rose ahead of

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly results.

Indexes briefly 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.

Shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) gained, with its earnings due after

the market close seen as a test for the artificial

intelligence-driven rally that has powered 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 rose 47.03 points,

or 0.10%, to 46,138.77, the S&P 500 gained 24.87 points,

or 0.38%, to 6,642.19 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

131.38 points, or 0.59%, to 22,564.23.

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.