U.S. stocks open lower ahead of Fed minutes

U.S. stocks opened lower Wednesday as investors eagerly awaited the Federal Reserve's minutes from its April meeting scheduled for release in the afternoon.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.49 points, or 0.31 percent, to 17,476.49. The S&P 500 lost 5.14 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,042.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.75 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,707.98.

A batch of economic data, including the consumer price index, housing starts and industrial production, came out better than expected Tuesday, which spurred speculations that the Fed may be more hawkish on a second rate hike.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said Tuesday that the U.S. central bank could still raise interest rates two or three times this year, according to Reuters.

Wall Street keeps a close eye on the highly-anticipated minutes, which are due at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, for more clues on when the Fed's next interest-rate hike might hit.

Oil prices were also in focus, which traded slightly higher in early trading Wednesday ahead of weekly inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration later in the morning.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks suffered big losses as Wall Street digested a batch of economic reports that supported the case for a rate hike later this year. Endi