us stocks opened mixed wednesday as investors worry about rising interest rates ahead of speeches from federal reserve officials and the release of the feds beige book the dow jones industrial average djia fell 01 soon after the opening bell while the sp 500 spx was about flat and the nasdaq composite comp edged up 02 according to factset data at last check fed vice chair lael brainard is scheduled to speak at 1235 pm eastern time following a speech from cleveland fed president loretta mester at 10 am the feds beige book a report on economic conditions will be released at 2 pm eastern time the wall street journal reported wednesday that the central bank appears on a path to hike its benchmark rate by 075 percentage point this month