STORY: U.S. stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday in another muted session ahead of the highly anticipated Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week.

The Dow rose fractionally and the S&P 500 rose a little more than a quarter of a percent, while the Nasdaq gained four tenths of a percent.

Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments, said traders are holding their breath for when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks on Friday.

"Markets are waiting for Chair Powell. You know, we haven't heard from him. The Fed is the most important actor in markets today, and we haven't heard from the chair of the Fed since the end of July... We expect Powell to stick to the script on Friday, and that's what Fed the Fed speakers have been saying for the last few weeks, which is higher interest rates for longer... But given the setup that we've seen and the kind of weakness we've seen in equity markets and the rise in bond yields really across the curve, we actually think investors could breathe a sigh of relief and markets could rally and recover a little bit on that message."

Shares of Peloton rose 20% after the exercise bike company said it would sell its products on Amazon in a bid to revive falling sales.

Shares of Nordstrom went about 20% the other way after the retailer cut its annual revenue and profit forecasts, a sign that inflation is squeezing consumer spending on its high-end clothing and footwear.

Shares of Bed, Bath & Beyond ended 18% higher, the latest big swing for the meme stock, after a report said the struggling home goods retailer clinched a deal for a loan.

And shares of Salesforce climbed ahead of its quarterly results after the close, but the business software company cut its full-year revenue forecast, sending shares lower in after-hours trading.