US stocks dip ahead of Federal Reserve minutes

US stocks dipped early Thursday ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes that could shed light on the likelihood of an interest rate hike in 2015.

About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16,904.62, down 7.67 points (0.05 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 3.20 (0.16 percent) at 1,992.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 19.37 (0.40 percent) at 4,771.79.

The Fed minutes release will chronicle the Federal Open Market Committee's decision not to raise interest rates at the September 16-17 meeting. Since then, Fed Chair Janet Yellen has reiterated that they still expect to lift rates in 2015, but markets are skeptical after a weak September jobs report following the meeting.

"The thought that the FOMC is apt to stay at the zero bound at least through year-end has been a major driver of the recent rally," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"We'll see if the market is still as confident in its viewpoint following the release of the minutes."

Software and data storage company EMC rose 2.4 percent on a Wall Street Journal report it is in advanced talks to be acquired for privately-held Dell for about $50 billion.

BioMed Reality Trust climbed 8.8 percent on news it agreed to be acquired by Blackstone for about $8 billion. Blackstone dropped 1.3 percent.

Domino's Pizza lost 2.7 percent after third-quarter net income came in at 67 cents per share, seven cents below analyst expectations.

Big-box store Costco Wholesale rose 1.1 percent as September same-store sales were flat, better than the 0.8 percent decline expected by analysts.

Bond prices were unchanged. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.06 percent, while the 30-year was flat at 2.89 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.