NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks mostly fell early on Wednesday as petroleum-linked shares were under pressure ahead of a US oil inventory report. ExxonMobil and Schlumberger were among the oilfield equities to dip after data late Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute showed US oil stockpiles rose last week. The Department of Energy will release official reserves data later this morning. Markets are looking ahead to Friday’s speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, which could shed light on whether better US economic data boosts the odds for an interest rate hike this year. About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,522.78, down 0.1 per cent. The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,185.25, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added less than 0.1 per cent at 5,260.72.