Investing.com – Though both the Dow and S&P marked fresh record highs on Wednesday, Wall Street lacked conviction to hold positions throughout the session and turned to losses as oil plummeted 4% on supply glut worries.
At 15:56GMT, or 11:56 AM ET, the Dow 30 gave up 22 points, or 0.12%, the S&P 500 lost 4 points, or 0.16%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded down 14 points, or 0.27%.
Oil plunged more than 4% as official U.S. crude stockpile data renewed concerns over the global supply glut.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended July 8. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 3.0 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply gain of 2.2 million barrels.
The data accompanied the IEA’smonthly oil market report that warned on Wednesday that the global glut in oil is refusing to ease and acts as a major dampener on crude prices despite robust demand growth and steep declines in non-OPEC production.
U.S. crude futures sank 3.87% to $44.99 by 15:59GMT, or 11:58AM ET, while Brent oil plummeted 4.04% to $46.51.
On the macro front, import prices and export prices continued to rise in June, as the former advanced less than expected while the latter rose more than forecast.
In addition, the Federal Reserve (Fed) will release its Beige Book survey of current economic conditions due at 18:00GMT, or 2:00PM ET.
In that light, remarks from Fed officials continued to flow with market participants hoping to glean clues as to the overall stance of the U.S. central bank on the next step forward in monetary policy.
After the close on Tuesday, Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari commented that there is no urgency to raise rates due to low inflation, while Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester repeated that it was still too early to judge the impact of the Brexit on the U.S. economy.
Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan followed their lead on Wednesday saying that current policy was not overly accommodative and that the central bank should hold steady until employment and inflation hit targets.
Philadelphia Fed head Patrick Harker was scheduled for Q&A later on Wednesday.
Fed fund futures continued to dismiss the possibility of a move not only at the July 26-27 meeting but also this year, with the probability of the Fed holding steady at the December meeting set at 67%.
Companies slated to release earnings results on Wednesday include, Yum! Brands and CSX, both due after the closing bell.
Investors were anxiously awaiting the kick-off of the reporting season for banks with JP Morgan beginning on Thursday, followed by Wells Fargo and Citigroup on Friday.