Stocks Opened Slightly Lower ahead of Fed Minutes

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Wednesday as investors await the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, along with a ramp up for third-quarter corporate earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 3.62 points, or 0.02%, to 22,827.06. The S&P 500 was down 1.95 points, or 0.08%, to 2,548.69. The Nasdaq Composite shed 6.91 points, or 0.10%, to 6,580.34.

Oil prices rose for a third day on Wednesday as OPEC said the market was gradually tightening after years of oversupply, but the 2018 outlook was less certain. Brent crude futures were trading at $56.80 per barrel at 1129 GMT, up 19 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $51.31 a barrel, up 39 cents from their last settlement.

Delta Air Lines third-quarter profit fell more than 6 percent to $1.18 billion, partly because Hurricane Irma robbed the company of $140 million in revenue from canceled flights. Investors are more likely to seize on Delta’s prediction Wednesday that a proxy for average prices will rise by up to 4 percent over last year during the fourth quarter.