U.S. stocks open lower ahead of Fed minutes

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday as investors awaited the release of the Fed minutes.

Wall Street mainly focused on the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting later Wednesday. Analysts expected Fed officials to show concern about low inflation and uncertainty over the Greece-eurozone negotiations, suggesting they could leave rates on hold until later this year.

Eurozone finance ministers were unable to reach a final agreement with the Greek government on the bailout program Monday, said Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem at a press conference.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Wednesday its producer price index (PPI) for final demand decreased 0.8 percent in January, while final demand prices moved down 0.2 percent in both December and November. It was the third straight month of decline in the PPI.

U.S. private-owned housing starts dropped 2 percent in January from a month earlier to an annual rate of 1.065 million, the Commerce Department said, missing expectations of a rate of 1.07 million.

Industrial production for January rebounded 0.2 percent after a December decrease of 0.3 percent, slightly below expectations.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 36.06 points, or 0.20 percent, to 18,011.52. The S&P 500 fell by 4.21 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,096.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 4.64 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,894.63.

U.S. stocks closed slightly higher despite the lack of resolution in the Greece-eurozone standoff over Greek debt Tuesday, with the S&P 500 eclipsing previous session's record highs. Endi