Stocks Opened Marginally Lower ahead of Fed Statement

U.S. stocks opened marginally lower on Wednesday with attention turned to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting and a press briefing by the Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 11.75 points, or 0.07% , to 16,796.74. The S&P 500 was up 0.99 point, or 0.05%, to 1,942.98. The Nasdaq Composite was down 6.77, 0.16%, to 4,330.47.

The U.S. current account deficit widened to $111.2 billion in the first quarter, or 2.6% of gross domestic product, from $87.3 billion, or 2%, in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

FedEx Corp. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose as the package-delivery giant posted revenue growth across its segments, particularly in its ground and freight operations. FedEx posted a profit for the period ended May 31 of $730 million, or $2.46 a share, up from $303 million, or 95 cents a share, in the year- earlier period.

BlackBerry Ltd. confirmed a deal Wednesday with Amazon.com Inc. to gain access to the e-commerce giant’s Appstore for mobile devices, a move the Canadian company hopes will boost sales of its latest smartphones.