US stocks were marginally higher in volatile trading on Wednesday as investor worries about corporate earnings grew and a rally in crude oil prices ended. Crude oil prices seesawed after government data showing a large US crude inventory build surprised traders the morning after an industry group had reported a draw. The S&P energy index, earlier the best performing among the 10 major S&P sectors, was up 0.13 percent - the smallest gain among the six advancing S&P sectors.
US stocks opened up strongly, turned negative for a while as oil prices slipped before eking out a small gain in afternoon trading. "There is no real conviction in either direction in the market," said Joseph Benanti, managing director, sales and trading of Rosenblatt Securities in New York. At 12:48 pm ET (1648 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.89 points, or 0.15 percent, at 16,815.08. The S&P 500 was up 4.04 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,983.96 and the Nasdaq composite index was up 3.35 points, or 0.07 percent, at 4,751.71.
Benanti said investors are going to be looking pretty closely at Alcoa's report after the bell on Thursday and its effect on the metals market, and any revisions in guidance by companies. Twitter rose 5 percent to $28.99 after Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment firm raised their stake to more than 5 percent.
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