New York, Apr 11 (IANS): US stocks ended higher as investors digested the newly released minutes of a policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve last month and rising CPI data in March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6.58 points, or 0.03 percent, to 26,157.16 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 rose 10.01 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,888.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 54.97 points, or 0.69 percent, to 7,964.24, Xinhua reported.

Shares of Delta Airlines rose 1.60 percent, after the U.S. airline reported first-quarter earnings results that beat market forecasts. The company also expressed confidence to keep a stable capacity for the upcoming summer travel season.

Shares of Foot Locker slightly rebound 0.21 percent, following losses for most of Wednesday's trading sessions as Citi downgraded the athletic footwear retailer to "neutral" from "buy," due to concerns over growth among fierce competition with its rivals.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close, with the real estate sector up over 0.7 percent, leading the winners.

The latest minutes of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy meeting, released on Wednesday, showed that the central bank was still "patient" on further rate hikes.

However, "some participants indicated that if the economy evolved as they currently expected, with economic growth above its longer run trend rate, they would likely judge it appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate modestly later this year," said the minutes.

On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.4 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.2 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The growth was mainly lifted by the 3.5-percent increase in energy index last month, accounting for about 60 percent of the seasonally adjusted all items monthly increase.