The fight back by equities ran out of steam towards the end of the morning.
The Nasdaq Composite actually moved into the red, shedding 12 points at 4,836 but the S&P 500 remained in positive territory, up five at 2,047.
The mid-cap S&P 400 was making a slightly better fist of things, up seven points at 1,426, while the small-cap measure the Russell 2,000 was up three points at 1,096.
A recovery in the oil price whetted investors appetite for risk again, while metals prices also tended firmer.
West Texas Intermediate for May delivery shot up 6.3% to $39.61 a barrel, as speculators gambled that US output would continue to slide, even if next week’s Opec meeting in Doha is not expected to yield much – if anything – in terms of agreements to throttle back supply.
Drug manufacturer DepoMed Inc (NASDAQ:DEPO) was wanted, rising 12.3% to $16.85 after activist investor Starboard Value petitioned the specialty drug manufacturer to put itself up for sale.
DepoMed said it welcomed open communications with its shareholders but noted it had not received any communication from Starboard prior to it filing a Schedule 13D yesterday.
Leading the Nasdaq lower was Viking Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:VKTX) after it priced its public offering of common stock and warrants.
The shares slid 76 cents to $1.17 as it said the units would be offered at $1.25 a pop as it looked to raise $9.38mln.