Oil stockpile figures from the Department of Energy have taken the wind out of the sails of the stock market.
Shares had opened strongly, propelled by energy shares on the back of a resurgent oil price, but oil majors such as Marathon and Chesapeake Energy have turned lower, while CONSOL Energy and Transocean see early gains much reduced.
The DoE's figures revealed a 3.1mln barrel increase in crude inventories, more than forecasts for 2.2mln barrels, while stores of gasoline rose almost 2mln barrels.
It comes after the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a 1.2mln in its weekly measure of stockpiles.
The Dow Jones clung on to 18 point gain at 16,811, but the Nasdaq barely kept its head above water, up a couple of points at 4,751. The S&P 500 was up four points at 1,984.
Shares in Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS) tumbled to the lowest in nearly three years after the direct seller of skin care and nutritional products slashed its revenue forecast for the third quarter.
The company lost a quarter of its market value as the shares sank to US$34.34.
The market début of flash storage firm Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) has been a flash in the pan, with the shares trading some 70 cents below the IPO price of US$17.
The much-anticipated bid from Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) for South African brewing giant SABMiller (LON:SAB) has materialised, with the Belgian brewer going over the head of the SABMiller board to announce a proposed offer of £42.15 a share, after having two previous offers knocked back by the SABMiller board.
The terms value SABMiller at US$104bn, which substantially undervalues the Miller Lite brewer, according to SABMiller's board.
ABInbev's ADRs were up 1% at US$110.59 in lunchtime trading.
Investors had no appetite for KFC and Pizza Hut brands owner Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM) after massively disappointing results released after the bell last night, which revealed the pace of recovery in its China division had been slower than expected.
Operational earnings per share of US$1.00 were around five cents below the consensus forecast, as cost improvements were offset by materially worse-than-expected sales in China.
"With the China business facing further unexpected headwinds into 2H, visibility for a turnaround remains low, evidenced by the reduced EPS outlook," said Jefferies, which nevertheless retained its 'hold' recommendation, with the shares off US$15.29 at US$68.14.
Another company with products that are anathema to healthy eating lobbyists, PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP), was faring better after its results last night.
The shares were up US$1.23 at US$98.29 after the fizzy drinks maker topped expectations with third quarter earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.35, versus market expectations of US$1.25.
Completing a trio of controversial companies making waves, agricultural giant Monsanto (NYSE:MON) reversed earlier losses to rise seven cents to US$87.57p, despite disappointing fourth quarter results.
The pro-genetically modified foods agribusiness is to reduce its head count by almost one in eight as it reacts to weaker commodity markets.
The company lowered fiscal 2016 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning, projecting earnings per share (EPS) of US$5.10, down US$5.60 from the year just ended.