US open: Stocks trade flat ahead of Yellen speech

Stocks on Wall Street are taking a breather following a record run and ahead of a speech from the head of the US Federal Reserve scheduled for later in the session.

At 1528 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was edging higher by 0.03% or 5.83 points to 22,647.50, but the S&P 500 was off by 0.06% or 1.62 points at 2,533.76, while the Nasdaq Composite was lower by 0.19% or 12.61 points to 6,519.11.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "After kicking off the week with two record closes, US indices are currently seen opening marginally lower as we prepare for speeches from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and ECB President Mario Draghi.

"While the two central banks are in very different phases of the tightening cycle, both heads are facing very similar problems in that there is a strong desire within the banks to become less accommodative before the end of the year but the data is making life difficult. Inflation in particular is a massive headache for many central banks around the world, with the normal models proving ineffective in determining when it will return to target."

To take note of, while Yellen was set to speak at 2015 BST, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi was due to take to the podium at 1815 BST.

On the economic front, Wednesday's data releases came in firmly ahead of economists' forecasts.

In economic news, the ISM institute's service sector purchasing managers' index rose from a reading of 55.3 for August to 59.8 in September (consensus: 55.1).

Ahead of Friday's non-farm jobs report, private consultancy ADP reported that US private payrolls rose by 135,000 in September (consensus: 138,000), as hurricanes Harvey and Irma began to impact the US Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless, some economists warned the impact from the storms wouldn't be fully apparent until October.

Meanwhile, in the corporate space, electric car maker Tesla rose after Nomura initiated coverage of the stock at 'buy'.

Office Depot was in focus as well after saying late on Tuesday that it was cutting its 2017 profit guidance and announcing the acquisition of CompuCom for $1bn.

Amazon.com was also in the spotlight as the EU antitrust regulator ordered the company to repay $293m in back taxes after saying it had been given an unfair tax advantage.

Verizon Communications was flat despite announcing late on Tuesday that every Yahoo account was hit in a 2013 hack.

PepsiCo stock was also little changed, despite its third-quarter earnings beat, while Mylan surged after it got approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a drug for multiple sclerosis.