U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, as investors mainly digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting scheduled for release in the afternoon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.88 points, or 0.12 percent, to 22,024.87. The S&P 500 gained 3.50 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,468.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.10 points, or 0.19 percent, to 6,345.11.

Minutes from Fed's July meeting showed growing debate about when to raise interest rates. Some participants expressed "concern about the recent decline in inflation" and said the Fed "could afford to be patient under current circumstances."

However, other hawkish members "worried about risks arising from a labor market that had already reached full employment and was projected to tighten further."

Market expectations for a December rate hike dropped to 40.4 percent, according to the latest CME Group's FedWatch tool.

"The staff warning about asset prices is hawkish, but the doves carried the day in July. Not raising rates again until there is evidence inflation is rising toward 2 percent is decidedly dovish. Questioning the Fed's inflation framework is dovish. Pushing back against those worried about a sudden inflation spike if the economy takes off is dovish. The doves win this one," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Fed officials agreed to soon begin the process of drawing down the central bank's holdings, according to minutes.

Wall Street widely expected the central bank to start trimming its more than 4.5-trillion-U.S.-dollar balance sheet in September.

On the economic front, U.S. privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.155 million, weaker-than-expected, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

This is 4.8 percent below the revised June estimate and 5.6 percent below the July 2016 rate.