Wall Street opens flat ahead of FOMC minutes

As investors are gearing up for the FOMC to publish the minutes of its January 29-30 meeting later in the session, major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day near Tuesday's closing levels. As of writing, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up 0.05% on the day while the Nasdaq Composite was adding 0.25%.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, materials and consumer discretionary are leading the gains by a daily gain of 0.6% and 0.3% respectively. On the flip side, healthcare and real estate sector are both losing around 0.5% on the day.

Commenting on the FOMC meeting minutes, “We expect more clarity regarding the FOMC's plans for balance sheet normalization from the minutes of the January FOMC meeting. The minutes from the two preceding meetings - November and December - included important sections on the balance sheet," Nomura analysts said in a recently published report.

• FOMC Minutes Preview: Major Banks expecting a reiteration of a dovish message.