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US stocks are modestly higher after briefly falling into the red in trading on Wednesday.

Just after 11:16 a.m. ET, the S&P was up 42 points, the Nasdaq was up 1 point and the Dow was up less than a point.

On Tuesday, stocks erased gains for the year.

The euro extended its slide, touching a fresh 12-year low against the dollar. It fell to as low as $ 1.0561 and is down nearly 12% this year. The start of the European Central Bank’s bond buying program this week has plunged government bond yields across the bloc, dimming the attractiveness of assets in the region. This is as the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy heads in the opposite direction, with interest rate hikes expected this year. Deutsche Bank has forecast that the euro could reach parity with the dollar by the end of this year. 

The Energy Information Administration reported that US oil inventories increased yet again last week, by 4.5 million to 448.9 million barrels, the highest for this time of the year in at least 80 years. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil is over 1% lower, at around $ 47.98 a barrel.

At 2:00 p.m., we’ll get the Treasury budget.