Daily Stock Market Activity - NYTimes.com Wall Street opened slightly lower on Wednesday ahead of the release of minutes from the last meeting of Federal Reserve's policy makers. The fall in shares put the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500-stock index on track for five consecutive days of declines, which would be the S.&P."s longest losing streak since a six-day run of declines in May. Contributing to the market's recent volatility has been weak volume, with some of the lowest daily trading volumes of the year coming in the last week. Investors will look to the minutes of the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, expected to be released in the afternoon, for reasons behind the central bank's decision to extend its Operation Twist program, as well as for insight on what may be needed to start a third round of monetary stimulus. "Markets are trying to catch their breath after yesterday's rather volatile session," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "The main focus will be the F.O.M.C. minutes," he said. We are probably looking at more members tilting towards easing - easing will be the dominating factor in the minutes, obviously stemming from pressures abroad that are impacting the economy. James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said on Tuesday that the American economy was still some way from needing more asset-buying stimulus. In Europe shares were mainly lower, led by luxury goods companies, as a slowdown in sales growth at British group Burberry highlighted the weak macroeconomic environment. Shortly after the opening bell, the S.&P. was down about 0.1 percent percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2 percent. Marriott International is set to release its second-quarter earnings after markets close, a day after the company, a leading hotel and lodging operator, signed an agreement to open its first hotel in Sri Lanka.