Stocks Open Lower, Staples Buys Office Deport

U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday as crude oil prices gave up some of their recent rapid gains, while a report on private-sector hiring came in below forecasts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately gained 4.18 points, or 0.02%, to 17,670.58.The S&P 500 fell 7.68 points, or 0.37%, to 2,042.35. The Nasdaq Composite was down 20.01 points, or 0.42%, to 4,707.73.

Private-sector employment gains decelerated in January as employers added 213,000 jobs, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported Wednesday. ADP revised December’s gain to 253,000 from a prior estimate of 241,000.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after a new build in U.S. crude stock levels put a global glut back in focus. Brent was
$1.03 lower at $56.88 a barrel by 1306 GMT, after gaining almost 6 percent on Tuesday and off a near six-year low of $45.19 reached in mid-January. U.S. crude futures were down $1.15 at $51.90 a barrel.

General Motors Co said on Wednesday it plans to raise its dividend by 20 percent, a move that comes as investors are
calling on the auto giant to give them a bigger slice of the company’s mounting pile of cash.

Staples Inc (SPLS.O), the No. 1 U.S. office supplies retailer, agreed to buy No. 2 Office Depot Inc (ODP.O) in a $6.3
billion deal designed to help it better compete against Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and online rivals such as
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) beat fourth-quarter same-store sales expectations and provided an upbeat profit outlook. For the
quarter ended January, same-store sales increased 3.7% from year ago levels, beating the FactSet consensus analyst
estimate for a rise of 1.9%.