U.S. stocks were seen lower on Wednesday, weighed by worries of more U.S. interest rate rises, but durable goods orders for April will grab market focus. In corporate news, Ford Motor and two partners said they had received Chinese government approval for a joint venture to build an engine plant on China's wealthy east coast as part of the U.S. firm's $1 billion investment program in the world's third-largest vehicle market. Oil prices were near $50 a barrel, holding gains of more than a dollar this week. Data on durable goods orders is due at 1230 GMT. Economists expect orders at U.S. factories for big ticket items to have likely rebounded in April from a big drop in March because of an improvement in aircraft and automobile bookings. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.19 percent lower at 10,503.7 points. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.24 percent to 2,061.6 points, marking its eight straight day of gains. "What you are going to continue to see a shift out of industrials, materials and energy into technology," said Steve Previs, a dealer at Jefferies International. "A lot of people are looking at the tech sector as a place that's way oversold for a long time and they are jumping in there." U.S. stocks slipped on Tuesday as dealers said minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting led the market to believe the Fed will keep raising borrowing costs. U.S. Federal Reserve policy-makers noted "a discernible upcreep" in measures of inflation recently, raising worry that risks from accelerating prices were growing, minutes from the May 3 meeting showed. In company news, Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, has expressed interest in buying the small banking unit of a government-owned trust in Taiwan, Finance Minister Lin Chuan said.