Investing.com – Wall Street continued to price near 2016 highs on Wednesday in a session with few references other than the continued rally in oil after declines in inventories.
At 15:24GMT or 11:24AM ET, the Dow 30 gained 31 points, or 0.17%, the S&P 500 rose 2 points, or 0.09%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite inched up 1 point, or 0.01%.
The positive sentiment in U.S. equities this week brought the S&P to within 20 points of its all-time high, fueled by expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will refrain from raising interest rates until the economy confirmed a better outlook.
That same read pushed the dollar down to fresh one-month lows against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Wednesday, as uncertainty over the timing of the next U.S. rate hike continued to dampen demand for the greenback.
Meanwhile, oil prices continued to push higher with West Texas having briefly broken above $51 on Wednesday for the first time since July.
Though China trade data showed that imports slipped far less than expected, lifting hopes that the world’s second largest economy was stabilizing and that would be reflected in the demand for black gold.
The decline in U.S. crude stockpiles also supported prices on Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels in the week ended June 3. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 2.8 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply drop of 3.6 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.97% to $50.85 by 15:25GMT, or 11:25AM ET, while Brent oil traded up 1.05% to $51.98.
In another light day for U.S. economic data, the U.S. Labor Department said that the number of job openings, excluding the farming industry, increased to 5.780 million in April, surprising analysts who had expected a decline to 5.672 million.
In company news, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) gained 1% on a report that the Internet portal had hired an investment bank to sell off 3,000 patents that could bring in $1 to $3 billion.
Despite mixed earnings, shares of Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) gained almost 2% as investors appeared to focus on the fact that the yoga wear retailer increased its revenue forecast.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) popped more than 7% after the gaming and entertainment company posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue in the first fiscal quarter after Tuesday’s closing bell.
Elsewhere, European and Asian stocks were mostly on concern over the global economy.
The World Bank cut its 2016 global growth forecast on Wednesday to 2.4% from the 2.9% estimated in January, citing "sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices, weak global trade, and diminishing capital flows."