Stocks Move Moderately Lower Amid Drop In Oil Prices - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Wednesday. The major averages have all slid into negative territory after ending the previous session slightly higher.

Currently, the major averages remain in the red. The Dow is down 37.73 points or 0.2 percent at 18,495.32, the Nasdaq is down 27.03 points or 0.5 percent at 5,198.45 and the S&P 500 is down 6.87 points or 0.3 percent at 2,174.87.

The weakness on Wall Street comes amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, with crude for September delivery sliding $0.80 to $41.97 a barrel.

The drop by the price of crude oil comes following the release of a report from the Energy Information Administration showing an increase in crude oil inventories in the week ended August 5th.

The EIA said crude oil inventories climbed by 1.1 million barrels and are at historically high levels for this time of year.

At the same time, the report said gasoline inventories and distillate fuel inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels and 2.0 million barrels last week, respectively.

Electronic storage and banking stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold stocks have moved sharply higher amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

Nonetheless, overall trading activity has remained somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data on the day.

Traders may be looking ahead to the release of reports on retail sales and producer prices, which are scheduled to be posted on Friday.

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, may also be drawing attention away from the markets, leading to a lackluster performance on Wall Street.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ticked up by 0.1 percent.

The major European also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength, extending the strong upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its prices is down by 1.5 basis points at 1.520 percent.