U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday as Wall Street awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting scheduled for release in the afternoon.

The minutes are from the Fed's June meeting when the U.S. central bank raised rates for a second time this year, and unveiled plan on how it intends to gradually begin trimming its more than 4.5-trillion-U.S.-dollar balance sheet.

Analysts expected to find more clues on the possibility of a third rate hike this year. At its June meeting, the Fed's forecast for rate hike pace barely changed compared to March's projections. According to the forecast, there will be one more rate hike this year, and three more next year.

On the economic front, the country's factory orders for May will be released later in the morning.

U.S. stock markets were closed on Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday. U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday, the first trading day of the third quarter, as investors digested a batch of economic reports.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.46 points, or 0.08 percent, to 21,495.73. The S&P 500 added 2.69 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,431.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 13.92 points, or 0.23 percent, to 6,123.98.