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Stocks - Wall Street Starts Slightly Lower Ahead of Fed Minutes

Published 10/17/2018, 09:38 AM
Updated 10/17/2018, 09:38 AM
© Reuters.  Wall Street was lower on Wednesday.

© Reuters. Wall Street was lower on Wednesday.

Investing.com - Wall Street was lower at the open Wednesday as investors took a breather from the previous session's strong rally and looked ahead to the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting out this afternoon.

The S&P 500 fell 7 points, or 0.26%, to 2,820.70 as of 9:35 AM ET (13:35 GMT), while the Dow decreased 127 points, or 0.49%, to 25,671.38 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 10 points, or 0.13%, to 7,635.43.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) was a drag on the Dow, declining 7.55% after its third-quarter results were lower than expected.

The meeting minutes from the Fed are released at 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT). The central bank took a more hawkish tone at its September meeting when it raised interest rates and dropped the word “accommodative” from its policy stance.

U.S. President Donald Trump continued to criticize the central bank, saying on Tuesday it was his “biggest threat” because it was “raising rates too fast.”

Expectations of a rate hike in December are priced in around 80%.

Meanwhile, building permits declined in September, adding to increasing concerns over the health of the U.S. housing sector in an otherwise stable economy.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, surging 7.45% after its subscriber numbers came in better than expected. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 1.59%, while General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 1.53% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 0.51%.

Elsewhere, medical marijuana company Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) lost 5.15% as investors looked to cash in on some profits now that cannabis is legal in Canada.

In commodities, gold futures decreased 0.18% to $1,228.80 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures fell 1.50% to $70.84 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, increased 0.33% to 95.08.

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