US stocks opened little changed today after an upward revision of US gross domestic product growth as investors awaited news from the Fed to shed further light on the state of the economy.
The Commerce Department released revised numbers showing the US economy grew at a 3.8 per cent annual rate in the first quarter, ahead of its previous estimate of a 3.5 per cent rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 9.13 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 10,396.50. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.20 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 1,201.37. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.66 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 2,069.23.
Crude dropped 55 cents to $57.65 a barrel, ahead of a weekly US oil inventory report due later this afternoon. Oil's retreat is an encouraging sign for stocks after crude's surge to a record $60.54 a barrel on Monday drove the market lower on concerns that higher energy costs would crimp corporate profits.
Better-than-expected earnings from Oracle Corp. pushed the software maker's shares higher. Company officials said their customers, primarily corporations, are buying larger amounts of software.
Oracle shares were up 3.8 per cent to $13.32 on Nasdaq.
Other tech shares on the rise include Microsoft Corp., up 13 cents at $25.20 and Cisco Systems, up 13 cents at $19.29.
Scandal-rocked insurance company American International Group Inc., a Dow component, yesterday reported a 44 per cent rise in quarterly earnings.
AIG shares rose 4.8 per cent to a three-month high of $57.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.