US equity indexes rose ahead of the close on Wednesday after the Treasury Department said it would increase buybacks of long-dated government debt to at least $4 billion per operation in September from $2 billion, and minutes of the July 28-29 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee showed that most participants supported maintaining the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 26,351.9, the S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 7,716.6, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.2% to 53,453.6. Healthcare and consumer discretionary led the gainers, while industrials and financials led the decliners.

The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell 8.9 basis points to 5.196%, while the 10-year yield fell 5.3 basis points to 4.653%.

Gold futures gained 3% to $4,557.1 per ounce, and silver futures rose 3.5% to $66.33.

In economic news, US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 900,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 14, following an increase of 11.3 million barrels in the prior week.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract rose 0.8% to $85.65 per barrel.

US mortgage applications fell by 0.4% in the week ended Aug. 14, with an increase in refinancing activity offset by declining home purchase applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In company news, Moderna (MRNA) shares climbed 169%, and Merck (MRK) shares gained 13% after the companies said a trial of intismeran autogene combined with Keytruda met the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival and a key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma.