TORONTO - Some stock markets in North America lost ground Wednesday after minutes released by the Federal Reserve from its January meeting indicated the U.S. central bank may raise its key interest rate as soon as next month.

On Bay Street, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index dropped 92.15 points at 15,830.22 after a record-setting session Tuesday. Materials, energy, base metals and gold stocks racked up some of the biggest losses.

In New York, major indices were mixed.

The Dow Jones industrial set a new all-time high, jumping 32.60 points to 20,775.60. But the Nasdaq composite gave up 5.32 points at 5,860.63 and the broader S&P 500 inched down 2.56 points at 2,362.82.

Earlier in the day, the Federal Reserve released minutes from its most recent meeting last month, which created "a little bit of anxiety in the markets," said Jonathan Pinsler, senior vice-president and portfolio manager at TD Wealth.

Officials discussed the importance of raising their primary interest rate as soon as March, especially if the U.S. economy stays strong. Some Fed officials were worried that if interest rates stay too low, the expanding American economy could cause inflation to rise too fast.

The central bank raised rates in December for just the second time in a decade. Its key interest rate is in a range of between 0.5 to 0.75 per cent.

While it's been expected there will be two to three rate raises this year, Pinsler said a March increase would be earlier than expected and could create some short-term uncertainty in the markets. Most economists had indicated they did not foresee a rate hike until June.

"My take is that there is this so-called 'baton pass' from stimulative monetary policy over the last seven years in the U.S. to now focusing on the economy, focusing on profits and political stability, which is a little bit of a game changer," Pinsler said.

One complicating factor is the uncertainty over how much of his ambitious economic program U.S. President Donald Trump will be able to get through Congress. His stimulus package includes tax cuts for businesses and individuals, increased infrastructure spending and a rollback of regulations in such areas as banking.

"There's certain known sectors since Trump has been elected that have been driving up the markets, financials in particular," Pinsler said. "Other areas haven't done as well — for instance, health care."

In currencies, the Canadian dollar lost 0.04 of a cent at 76.08 cents US against a strengthening greenback.

Some commodities, in turn, moved lower.

The April crude contract declined 74 cents at US$53.59 per barrel, April gold was down $5.60 at US$1,233.30 an ounce and March copper shed 1.25 cents at US$2.73 a pound.

"It's really typical when the U.S. dollar strengthens that commodities typically go down mildly," Pinsler said.

April natural gas was up one cent at US$2.70 per mmBTU.

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Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect spelling for Jonathan Pinsler, senior vice-president and portfolio manager at TD Wealth.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2017