Investing.com – Wall Street managed to hold onto gains Wednesday amid the biggest cash acquisition on record even as investors flip-flopped over oil in volatile trade spurred by weekly inventory data.
At 11:33ET (15:33GMT), the Dow 30 gained 63 points, or 0.35%, the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.50%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 38 points, or 0.74%.
Oil prices went on a wild ride Wednesday as an unexpected drop in crude inventories caused a knee jerk bullish reaction that pulled West Texas Intermediate off a one-week low and into positive territory.
Within 20 minutes of the release, investors seemed to change their mind as they digested a larger than expected build in distillate and gasoline inventories and oil prices tumbled to intraday lows.
U.S. crude futures slumped 2.12% to $43.95 by 11:33ET (15:33GMT), while Brent oil fell 1.87% to $46.22.
WTI and the London barrel had hit intraday lows of $43.76 and $46.01, respectively, after the release of the official data.
In company news, the focus was on Bayer’s increased victory offer to acquire Monsanto (NYSE:MON) for an improved offer of $128 per share, or around $66 billion.
The offer that ended months of negotiation was the biggest so far this year and the largest cash bid on record.
On a quiet macro front, U.S. import prices slipped for the first time in six months in August by a larger-than-expected amount, while export prices also registered a surprise decrease.