Stocks Mixed ahead of Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks were mixed in the early trading on Wednesday as investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for more clues on interest rate hikes this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 30.58 points, or 0.14%,to 21,448.69. The S&P 500 was down 1.68 points, or 0.07%, to 2,427.33. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 10.12 points, or 0.17%, to 6,120.18.

Crude oil prices tanked in Wednesday’s trade, snapping its longest winning run since 2010 after Russia ruled out any proposals to deepen the OPEC-led production cuts. West Texas Intermediate oil lost 76 cents, or 1.6%, to $46.31 a barrel. Brent oil slumped 61 cents on Wednesday, or 1.3%, to $49 a barrel.

The Fed, which lifted interest rates and unveiled details of its plan to cut its mammoth crisis-era bond portfolio at its mid-June meeting, will release minutes at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).

The U.S. government has sought to intervene in Apple’s (AAPL.O) appeal against an EU order to pay back up to 13 billion euros ($14.8 billion) in Irish taxes, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd launched on Wednesday a cut-price voice assistant speaker, similar to Amazon.com Inc’s “Echo”, its first foray into artificially intelligent home devices.

Carmaker Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from 2019. The Chinese-owned firm, best known for its emphasis on driver safety, has become the first traditional carmaker to signal the end of the internal combustion engine.

Worldpay Group, the British payment processing company, said on Wednesday that it had agreed in principle to be acquired by Vantiv, an American rival, for 7.7 billion pounds.