U.S. stocks rose higher Wednesday as investors weighed producer price data that showed inflation rose slightly last month.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) opened lower, then turned higher, up about 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3%.The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) edged lower by 0.11%.

The September producer price index (PPI), a measure of prices at the wholesale level, rose 0.4% in September after falling 0.2% during the prior month as inflation persisted. Economists expected the headline figure to rise 0.2%. The PPI release comes before Thursday's highly anticipated release of the government's consumer price index (CPI) report.

"Prices remain elevated so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see producer goods and services rise. Keep in mind the increase is still below what we were seeing consistently month after month earlier this year," wrote Mike Loewengart, Head of Model Portfolio Construction at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.

"No doubt the Fed still has its work cut out for them, and if tomorrow’s CPI read is hot, don’t be surprised to see some investors come to grips with how long the road to tamer inflation may be," Loewengart added.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary-policy meeting will be published Wednesday. Investors will be mulling over officials’ discussions about continued tightening and its economic impact.

“Any hope of a helping hand from the Fed minutes may not be forthcoming, with the commentary to an extent outdated at this point and policymakers seemingly unified in their goal of defeating inflation. Even a good CPI number tomorrow may do little to change that in the near-term,” wrote Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda.

Wall Street has also been keeping a close eye on monetary action overseas, as Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey announced the bank would end its emergency bond-buying program Friday.

“Bailey's comments do not inspire great confidence in sterling assets. Multiple comments — including the indicative message to funds that ‘you've got three days left’ makes it clear that the BoE does not intend to roll forward its temporary asset purchases," Patrick Locke, a G10 FX Strategist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a note to clients.