NEW YORK, New York - Stocks in the U.S. and around the world virtually stood still on Wednesday, with little movement in either direction.

There was no major catalyst for driving markets, the minutes of the latest meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve contained no surprises.

The Fed minutes were more of the same, it will be a while before we see changes in their policy decisions, Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut told Reuters Thomson Wednesday. You saw a little bit of a bounce in the markets but its faded.

Today is noncommittal, not much going on, not much conviction one way or another, Pavlik said. Were in a wait-and-see period, in that transition between not a lot happening, just before earnings begin in a couple of weeks.

At the close Wednesday, the Dow Jones index was ahead 16.02 points or 0.05 percent at 33,466.26.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 6.01 points or 0.15 percent to 4,079.95.

The Nasdaq Composite edged down 9.54 points or 0.07 percent to 13,688.84.

The U.S. dollar was little changed. Against the euro, it traded at 1.1872. The British pound slid to 1.3734. The Japanese yen was unmoved at 109.82. The Swiss franc inched down to 0.9295.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 1.2614. The New Zealand and Australian dollars both fell, last changing hands at 0.7011 and ).7614 respectively.

I Europe the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.01 percent. The German Dax fell 0.24 percent.

The FTSE 100 in London gained 0.91 percent.

On Asian markets, the Australian All Ordinaries advanced 43.50 points or 0.61 percent to 7,177.40.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 34.16 points or 0.12 percent to 29,730.79.

China's Shanghai Composite however dipped 3.34 points or 0.10 percent at 3,479.63.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dived 263.94 points or 0.91 percent to 28,674.80.