U.S. stocks trade mixed around midday amid data, oil recovery

U.S. stocks traded mixed around midday Wednesday, as Wall Street meditated on a batch of economic data and a strong rebound in oil prices.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 17.25 points, or 0.11 percent, to 16,170.79. The S&P 500 fell 7.01 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,896.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 33.66 points, or 0.75 percent, to 4,483.28.

U.S. private sectors added 205,000 jobs in January, beating market consensus of 190,000, according to the ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 53.5 percent in January, 2.3 percentage points lower than the seasonally adjusted December reading of 55.8 percent and below market consensus of 55.5, the Institute Supply Management (ISM) said Wednesday.

Oil prices rebounded strongly on weaker U.S. dollar, with both the U.S. oil and Brent crude surging more than 5 percent around midday Wednesday.

On Tuesday, oil prices continued to plunge, with the U.S. oil settling below 30 U.S. dollars a barrel again, as hopes for a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia on output cuts faded away.

In corporate news, shares of Merck fell about 2 percent around midday Wednesday after the drug giant delivered quarterly earnings above estimates but revenues short of forecast.

Shares of Yahoo plunged more than 6 percent around midday, as the Internet service company's newly-released restructuring plan disappointed investors, even though it reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks suffered big losses as oil prices retreated further amid mixed earnings reports. Endit