Wall St edges higher ahead of Fed minutes US stocks looked for direction in morning trade ahead of the release of the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's June meeting. The S&P 500 index was fractionally higher at 1343.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rangebound at 12627.16, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2 per cent lower at 2895.23. Traders were awaiting the FOMC minutes released later on Wednesday to look for clues about Fed's thinking behind its decision to extend "Operation Twist" and its future monetary actions. As earnings season began in earnest with Alcoa reporting results on Monday, investors remain worried about corporate profits after several large companies issued warnings citing unfavourable business environment in Europe and Asia. It is likely that the earnings season is not going to be robust and markets already pulled back in anticipation of softer earnings. The expectations are already pretty low and if earnings start coming in below that, we might see a sharper pullback," said Gary Thayer, chief macro strategist at Citi Investment Research. However, we still see an upside in the markets because of the positive fundamentals, including central bank stimulus in Europe and Asia. And today's Fed minutes will tell us more about the possibility of further quantitative easing, given that the most recent jobs report indicated the growth is very slow while inflation remains low. In economic news, the US trade deficit narrowed in May on falling crude oil prices and weakening demand for consumer goods. The gap fell 3.8 per cent to $48.7bn, from $50.6bn in April and was in line with economists estimates. The energy sector was a bright spot on Wednesday morning as oil rebounded from the lowest close in more than a week. The S&P energy index was 1 per cent higher lifted by Chevron and ExxonMobil , both up more than 0.7 per cent at $104.95 and $83.81, respectively. Duke Energy shares rose 0.4 per cent to $66.40 after it was revealed that its former chief executive Bill Johnson was sacked because of his autocratic leadership style. Duke Energy has completed its merged with Progress Energy on July 3. It was reported that the board had been concerned about Mr Johnson's ability to manage the safety of the combined company's seven nuclear power plants. JPMorgan Chase was leading banking gains, rising 1 per cent to $34.63 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the US's largest bank is planning to claw back millions of dollars in stock from executives linked to the CIO trading loss. Other bank stocks were also higher with Citigroup up 1.2 per cent to $26.20, Morgan Stanley 1.3 higher at $13.89 and Bank of America 0.4 per cent higher at $7.5. Among highest risers was Abercrombie & Fitch , up 6.1 per cent to $34.79 after news reports that the US clothing retailer plans a big share buyback and is also likely to cut back on its European expansion plans. Viacom shares were fractionally higher to $49.88 after reports that DirecTV cut access to the network's channels in a dispute over fees. The failure by the satellite broadcaster and Viacom networks to forge a new deal over carriage fees meant almost 20m subscribers lost access to 17 Viacom networks. Citi Investment research analysts however maintained a "buy" rating on Viacom: "We continue to think the stock, valued at 9 times of 2013 earnings, is attractive for patient investors." Cummins shares fell a further 2 per cent to $85.04 after the diesel engine maker lowered its full-year revenue forecast.