Stocks Opened Lower, Oil Prices Climbed

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Wednesday as investors awaited a string of speeches by Federal Reserve officials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 61.95 points, or 0.30%, to 20,639.55. The S&P 500 was down 5.60 points, or 0.24%, to 2,352.97. The Nasdaq Composite was off 2.71 points, or 0.05%, to 5,872.43.

Oil prices continued to climb on Wednesday, boosted by supply disruptions in Libya and hopes official U.S. inventory data will show a drawdown in supplies at a major storage hub. Crude oil for May delivery rose 29 cents, or 0.6%, to $48.66, while Brent gained 36 cents, or 0.7%, to $51.69 a barrel.

Semiconductor company MaxLinear Inc. said it would buy Exar Corp., another semiconductor-technology firm, for about $661.6 million in cash, as MaxLinear seeks to build scale to boost growth. MaxLinear said the deal was worth about $472 million net of Exar’s cash to be acquired.