Dow Inches Toward Milestone Ahead Of Fed Minutes.

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday as banking stocks led the Dow Jones Industrial Average closer to the 20,000 milestone. The Dow gained 25 points, or 0.1%, to 19,906. The S&P 500 climbed four points, or 0.2%, to 2,262. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 13 points, or 0.3%, to 5,447. Morgan Stanley , Bank of America Corp. saw strong gains, as did Amazon.com Inc. . Investors are awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting, at which it decided to raise interest rates for the second time in a decade. Traders will be watching for clues about the central bank's policy outlook.