NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday as the Fed is expected to release the monetary policy minutes in the day.

    In the midday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 77.71 to 11,172.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 8.31 to 1,268.15 and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 17.04 to 2,181.78.

    The Fed releases the minutes of its May 10 monetary policy meeting at 2 p.m. in Washington. Comments from Fed Bank of ChicagoPresident Michael Moskow Tuesday reinforced speculation that policy makers will raise borrowing costs again when it next meets June 28-29.

    Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who took over from Alan Greenspanin February, has given mixed signals about his outlook for inflation.

    World crude oil prices hovered around 72 dollars Wednesday amidconcerns over Iran and a coming active hurricanes season. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, rose 66 cents to close at 72.03 dollars a barrel Tuesday. Enditem