Wall Street flat ahead of Fed minutes

By Abhiram Nandakumar

REUTERS - U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting on monetary policy.

Losses were limited by a 2 percent rise in crude oil, which propped up energy stocks.

Investors, who have been grappling with mixed signals on interest rates from Fed officials, will parse the minutes to gain insight into the central bank's thinking on the economy. The minutes are due at 2 p.m. ET (1600 GMT).

While Fed Chair Janet Yellen has taken a cautious stance, some officials have supported an aggressive plan to raise rates as data points to resilience in the U.S. economy.

"The market is back to its original conundrum, which is 'where is the growth?,'" said Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Caron, who expects the stock market to remain choppy, said there were still some lingering concerns about global growth and weak expectations for corporate earnings.

A recent rally - sparked by rising oil, strength in the economy and a cautious Fed - helped stocks recover from a steep selloff that had sent the S&P 500 down more than 10 percent earlier this year. The S&P 500 closed flat for 2016 on Tuesday.

Several Fed officials are slated to speak on Wednesday, including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Both are voting members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

At 9:38 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was down 24.1 points, or 0.14 percent, at 17,579.22, the S&P 500 was down 0.1 points, or 0 percent, at 2,045.07 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 7.82 points, or 0.16 percent, at 4,851.76.

Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower. The S&P telecoms sector was down 1.34 percent, while industrial stocks were off 0.52 percent.

Cree shares sank 16 percent to $24.39 after the LED maker forecast third-quarter results below analysts' estimates.

Constellation Brands rose 4.3 percent to $157.30 after reporting higher-than-expected quarterly sales.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,702 to 840. On the Nasdaq, 1,361 issues rose and 751 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed two new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded nine new highs and one new low.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)