Stocks are lower (SPX, SPY, DJI, IXIC, USO, WTI, OIL, VDE)
Stocks opened lower for trading on Wednesday after a big rally in the prior session.
They've seesawed quite a bit today between positive and negative territory. Near 12:32 p.m. ET, the Dow was down 47 points, the S&P 500 was down 5, and the Nasdaq was down 20.
Crude oil dived after data from the Energy Information Administration showed that inventories rose by a massive 10.37 million barrels last week, the highest since last April. The data also showed that oil production fell by 25,000 barrels per day.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures have also bounced around, and rose to as high as $35.14 per barrel.
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq rallied 2% and had its best day since August, while the S&P 500 rose to a seven-week high. The Dow closed up 348 points, or 2%. And so after this rally, we saw some moderate profit-taking early on Wednesday.
The economic data calendar is light today. Earlier, ADP's private-payroll report showed an increase by 214,000 jobs for February, beating the forecast for 205,000. This of course comes ahead of Friday's official jobs report from the Labor Department.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve's latest beige book of anecdotes from its districts will be released.
Very early in the session, Monsanto was the biggest decliner on the S&P 500, down 4% after the company cut its targets for earnings and cash flow this year.
Exxon shares fell the most on the Dow, after the oil and gas giant said it was cutting its capital spending plans by 25% this year.