US stocks open mostly flat as Wall Street gets set for the Fed minutes

U.S. equities opened near the flatline on Wednesday as investors geared up for the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average opened about 10 points lower, with Home Depot contributing the most losses. The benchmark S&P 500 slipped about 1 point, as utilities lagged. The Nasdaq composite held just 0.05 percent lower, after briefly trading marginally higher.

The minutes are scheduled for release at 2 p.m. ET. Investors will be looking for signs and clues about when the next rate hike will be coming, particularly after hawkish comments made by some Fed officials.

"We got some vocal Fed [officials] suggesting a rate hike soon, but I don't think they will hike in September," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial.

On Wednesday, New York Fed President William Dudley said a rate hike could come next month. Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand at least one increase this year.

"His message was clear: the market is far too complacent about the rate hike and this was enough to prop up the dollar," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets, said in a Wednesday note to clients, referring to Dudley's comments.

"Today's FOMC minutes may influence the odds in favour of a rate hike during the month of December, as September still looks way too unrealistic as the Fed would have to have prepared the market for this if they are going to consider this meeting live," he said.

Market expectations for a September rate hike remained at 18 percent Wednesday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, a day after the three major indexes posted simultaneous record highs.

"Yesterday was odd because the dollar was lower against most major currencies and we still sold off," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth.

The U.S. dollar fell nearly 1 percent against a basket of currencies Tuesday. It rose about 0.1 percent Wednesday. The yen fell 0.3 percent versus the greenback, near 100.64, while the euro held near the flatline at $1.127.

On the oil front, U.S. crude fell approximately 0.4 percent to $46.41 a barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventories data release.

U.S. Treasurys traded mostly flat, with the two-year note yield at 0.75 percent and the benchmark 10-year yield at 1.58 percent.

Wall Street also digested a number of quarterly reports before the bell, including Lowe's and Target.

Overseas, European stocks fell, with the Stoxx 600 index slipping 0.53 percent. In Asia, stocks closed mixed, with the Nikkei 225 rising 0.9 percent and the Shanghai composite ending marginally lower.

On tap this week:

*Planner subject to change.

Wednesday

Earnings: L Brands, NetApp, Eaton Vance, American Eagle Outfitters, Performance Food, CACI

2 p.m. FOMC minutes

Thursday

Earnings: Wal-Mart (WMT), Applied Materials, Gap, Ross Stores, Hormel Foods, Mentor Graphics, Nestle

8:30 a.m. Initial claims; Philadelphia Fed survey

10 a.m. New York Fed President William Dudley

4 p.m. San Francisco Fed President John Williams

Friday

Earnings: Deere, Estee Lauder, Foot Locker, Madison Square Garden, The Buckle