Stocks Opened Lower, Oil Slipped

U.S. stocks opened marginally lower on Wednesday amid a pullback in oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately shed 19.94 points, or 0.10%, to 20,723.06. The S&P 500 slipped 5.05 points, or 0.21%, to 2,360.33. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 15.39 points, or 0.26%, to 5,850.56.

Global oil prices slipped on Wednesday after OPEC signalled optimism over its deal with other producers to curb output. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate April crude contract was down 37 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $53.96 a barrel at 1310 GMT. Brent crude was down 35 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $56.83.

Treasury yields ticked lower on Wednesday ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sunk 2.6 basis points to 2.403%, while the yield on the two-year Treasury note slipped 0.7 basis point to 1.220%.

Macy’s, (M) the nation’s largest department store chain, says its earnings for the quarter that includes the holiday period dropped nearly 13 percent as results were dragged down by lower sales, store closures and other costs. The profit results beat Wall Street expectations. For the three months ended Jan. 28, Macy’s earned $475 million, or $1.54 per share. That compares with $544 million, or $1.73 per share, in the year-ago period.

Airbus called for new talks with European governments to ease “heavy penalties” for delays to its A400M military aircraft, after taking a fresh 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) charge for Europe’s largest defence project.