Stocks Opened Little Changed Ahead of Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Wednesday, ahead of the release of minutes from last month’s Federal Reserve meeting, which is expected to shed light on when interest rates will be hiked. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 16.97 points, or 0.09%, to 18,295.42. The S&P 500 was down 3.41 points, or 0.16%, to 2,124.42. The Nasdaq Composite lost 16.16 points, or 0.32%, to 5,053.87.

Target Corp. topped first-quarter earnings estimates after refining its product lineup, a sign Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell is getting the retail chain back on track following years of missteps. Excluding some items, earnings amounted to $1.10 a share in the period, which ended May 2, the Minneapolis-based company said today in a statement.

Lowe’s Cos. reported weaker-than-expected profit and revenue growth in its first quarter, despite logging a 5.3% increase in a key sales metric for its U.S. home improvement stores. Lowe’s posted a profit of $673 million, or 70 cents a share, up from $624 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales grew 5.4% to $14.13 billion.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) reported better-than-expected results and an upbeat outlook. First-quarter profit rose to $29.1 million, or 15 cents a share, from $3.87 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $699.5 million from $646.1 million.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said Wednesday it expects to file more than 10 new pharmaceutical products by 2019, each with the potential to generate revenue of more than $1 billion.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said that it would take a different approach to online growth than Amazon.com Inc by using its large network of stores as distribution points.