Stock opened sharply higher in a bit of a delayed reaction to the Fed having signaled yesterday afternoon that interest rate cuts may be coming by as soon as next month when the central bank's rate-setting committee meets again. However, the highs were set early in the session and the major averages have been bleeding lower throughout the morning. While stocks are trimming their gains, oil has been holding onto its own advance following Iran shooting down a U.S. military drone. Iran claims the drone was flying over its territory, but the U.S. said the drone was in international airspace, ratcheting up tensions that have recently flared in the wake of a recent attack on two oil tankers in the region.

ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims fell 6,000 to 216,000 in the week ended June 15. The Philly Fed index dropped 16.3 points to 0.3 in June, which was below expectations. The Q1 current account deficit narrowed to $130.4B after widening to $143.9B in Q4. The leading economic index was unchanged at 111.8 in May.

TOP NEWS: Shares of Oracle (ORCL) are up 8% near noon after the company last night reported fiscal Q4 results that exceeded expectations. Several Wall Street analysts raised their targets on the stock in the wake of the earnings beat, though Stifel analyst Brad Reback was among those with a more lukewarm view of the report. He is still cautious given decelerating growth in the apps business, his view that Oracle continues to lose share in the database market and what he sees as a weak position in Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

Slack Technologies (WORK), which pursued a direct listing rather than a traditional initial public offering, came public on the New York Stock Exchange. The NYSE announced that Slack's reference price was set at $26 per share and the stock opened for trading at $38.50 per share.

MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Aecom (ACM), which is up about 1% after receiving a letter from activist investor Starboard Value urging a strategic review. Also higher was Ventas (VTR), which has received a number of analyst upgrades and gained 5% following the company's investor day meeting. 

Among the notable losers was Carnival (CCL), which is down 10% after its earnings report this morning. Also lower are two of its cruise industry peers, Norwegian (NCLH) and Royal Caribbean (RCL).

INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 132.04, or 0.50%, to 26,636.04, the Nasdaq was up 34.77, or 0.44%, to 8,022.09, and the S&P 500 was up 15.01, or 0.51%, to 2,941.47.