Wall Street stocks opened slightly lower on Wednesday with traders focused on a sliding euro and rising Italian bond yields as market anxiety over Europe persisted.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 51.47 points, or 0.43 percent, to 11,903.47. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> lost 5.91 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,219.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 14.61 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,564.66.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)