The Nasdaq Composite was up 4.67 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 5,027.49.
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“The market needs a bit of a breather after an awesome run”, said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer of Cornerstone Wealth Management.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent in early trade to 426.62, just below its year-to-date high of 428.22.
Economic news: With few prominent earnings on tap for Wednesday, attention is turning to Federal Reserve news: the Beige Book survey of current economic conditions is due at 2 p.m. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said the report could reinforce the view that the US economy is doing well and “in so doing start to shift the dial in terms of the timing of a potential USA rate rise”.
Oil prices slumped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-back-off-ahead-of-possible-supply-rise-2016-07-13), while gold inched higher.
Right after the opening bell, The Dow Jones industrial average, which on Tuesday eclipsed its old high from May 2015, was 0.1% higher.
Second-quarter S&P 500 earnings are expected to fall 5 per cent, mirroring the first quarter. Line has more users than Facebook or Twitter in Japan. With the earnings season gathering steam, investors will parse corporate reports to justify stock valuations.
MSCI’s all-country world equity index was last up 0.91 point, or 0.22 percent, at 409.3.
JPMorgan Chase rose 96 cents, or 1.5 percent to $64.12. In addition to topping profit forecasts, investors were encouraged by strong trading revenue for the quarter.
The US crude oil prices fell 4.4% to $US44.75 a barrel, its lowest settlement since May 10 after federal data had shown domestic inventories of crude oil and refined products were at a record high.
“A successful breakout usually results in a strong thrust higher off of the base”, he wrote in a report. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 1.4 percent and the CAC-40 in France rose 1.2 percent.
In Japan, the Nikkei closed almost 1 percent higher as the yen weakened against the dollar. The yen last traded at 104.67 yen to the dollar (JPY=). USA crude CLc1 settled up 93 cents, or 2.08 percent, at $45.68 a barrel.
At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at 45.01 a barrel – a 3.7 percent decline, while global benchmark Brent crude was at 46.49 – a 4.2 percent fall.
The Dow is up 1,081.38 points, or 6.2 percent.
Among stocks making big moves, Juno Therapeutics soared $2.63, or 9.5 percent, to $30.42 after regulators said its leukemia drug trials can continue.
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Precious and industrial metals prices were mixed. The August gold contract fell US$11.40 to US$1,332.20 an ounce, while September copper contracts were unchanged at US$2.24 a pound.
