NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages finished mixed on Wednesday as investors parsed the Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 84.5 points, or 0.26 percent, to 33,045.09. The S&P 500 sank 6.29 points, or 0.16 percent, to 3,991.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 14.77 points, or 0.13 percent, to 11,507.07.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with real estate and energy down 1.02 percent and 0.77 percent, respectively, leading the laggards. Materials and consumer discretionary rose 0.67 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively.

The minutes from the Fed's Jan. 31-Feb. 1 policy meeting released Wednesday showed that policymakers remained concerned over inflation and supported further increases in the interest rates.

With inflation still "well above" the Fed's 2 percent goal and the labor market remaining "very tight," Fed members continued to anticipate that ongoing increases in the target range for the federal funds rate would be appropriate, stated the minutes.

Meanwhile, Fed officials "observed that a restrictive policy stance would need to be maintained until the incoming data provided confidence that inflation was on a sustained downward path to 2 percent, which was likely to take some time," said the filing.

The minutes also said "almost all" officials agreed it was appropriate to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the meeting, while "a few" favored or could have supported a 50 basis-point hike.

On Tuesday, U.S. equities suffered a major setback with the Dow closing down nearly 700 points, as Wall Street fretted over the prospects of higher interest rates.