Stocks Opened Higher, Dow Hit above 20,000

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit the psychologically significant threshold of 20,000. The Dow lately rose 103.19 points, or 0.52%, to 20,015.90. The S&P 500 gained 12.00 points, or 0.53%, to 2,292.07. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 37.99 points, or 0.68%, to 5,638.95.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after builds in U.S. inventories reinforced expectations that increasing shale output this year would reduce the impact of production cuts by OPEC and other major exporters. Benchmark Brent crude for March was down 30 cents, or 0.3%, to $55.14 a barrel. U.S. light crude was down 31 cents, or 0.6%, to $52.87 a barrel.

President Donald Trump plans to unveil actions on national security starting Wednesday that are expected to include steps toward building a wall on the Mexican border and limiting refugee inflows to the U.S., moving to fulfill key promises he made during his election campaign.