By Saumya Vaishampayan And Alexandra Scaggs 

U.S. stocks opened lower Wednesday after two consecutive days of gains for the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.

Investors are looking ahead to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary-policy meeting at 2 p.m. Eastern.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 10 points, or 0.1%, to 16909. The S&P 500 index shed two points, or 0.1%, to 1980 and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed eight points, or 0.2%, to 4520.

Stocks rose Tuesday, which marked the third-slowest full trading day of the year. The Dow gained 0.5% to 16919.59 and the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 1981.60.

Central bankers are in the spotlight this week, between the Fed meeting minutes and a closely watched annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi are scheduled to speak.

Investors will be eyeing both to determine the outlook for central-bank policy. If Wednesday's minutes indicate that officials are willing to keep short-term interest rates low, stocks could push higher, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for State Street Global Advisors' U.S. Intermediary Business.

"The [economic data] that we're seeing continue to indicate that the economy is improving, particularly areas where we had structural problems like housing and labor, yet inflation remains fairly benign," he said. "That is a very positive environment for U.S. stocks."

Strategists say that low interest rates, paired with improving economic data and corporate earnings, have driven the stock market higher this year. The Dow and the S&P 500 recovered from a pullback in January and early February to advance to a series of fresh records.

Stocks have recently staged a recovery from a mid-July pullback, which was sparked by a bout of geopolitical fears and concerns about the end of the Fed's loose monetary policy. As of Tuesday's close, the Dow was off 1.3% from its July 16 record and the S&P was just 0.3% below its July 24 record.

European stocks pulled back, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index down 0.4%.

Treasury prices fell as well, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 2.408%, according to FactSet.

In corporate news, Lowe's Cos. Inc. reported better-than-expected results in the second quarter. But shares came under pressure as the company lowered its sales outlook for the full year. Shares fell 2.8%.

PetSmart Inc. said it would explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. The company said it would implement a cost-reduction program. Shares rose 1.7%.

In commodity markets, crude-oil futures rose 0.5% to $93.38 a barrel. Gold futures tacked on less than 0.1% to $1,297.20 an ounce.