Stocks Opened Little Changed, Eyed on Fed

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Wednesday as investors kept up their wait for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech on Friday for clues on the timing of an interest rate hike. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 20.69 points, or 0.11%, to 18,526.61. The S&P 500 was down 1.87 points, or 0.09%, to 2,185.03. The Nasdaq Composite was off 0.22 points, to 5,259.85.

Oil prices dropped on Wednesday, as reports of additional growth in U.S. crude stocks wiped out optimism that Iran could agree to a production freeze accord. Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October fell 79 cents, or 1.6%, to $47.30 a barrel. October Brent fell 46 cents, or 0.9%, to $49.50 a barrel.

Express Inc. reported sliding sales in the latest quarter, hurt by dwindling store traffic and online sales. Over all for the period ended July 30, Express posted a profit of $10.1 million, or 13 cents a share, down from $21 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 6% to $504.8 million.