Stocks Opened Lower ahead of Federal Minutes

U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the Federal Open Market Committee’s September meeting minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 169.50 points, or 0.66%, to 25,628.92. The S&P 500 shed 7.72 points, or 0.27%, to 2,802.20. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 17.32 points, or or 0.23%, to 7,628.17.

Oil futures edged lower Wednesday despite data from the American Petroleum Institute showing an unexpected decline in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery fell 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $71.55 a barrel, while December Brent crude declined 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $81.21 a barrel.

New home building fell 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.201 million in September, the Commerce Department said in a statement Wednesday.