Twitter Drops on CEO's Stock Sell, JCPenney Gains on Holiday Sales

Stocks were off their highs in midday trading Wednesday after a strong open but are still bouncing back from their losing streak. Traders are waiting to hear the Fed minutes, which releases at 2pm eastern. The central bank is expected to hold rates near zero through at least Q1. Oil traders accessed the latest U.S. government data that showed the total stock of gasoline rose by nearly 8 million barrels last week. Inventories of domestic crude oil, however, fell by about 3 million barrels. Twitter (TWTR) is dropping more than 2% after soaring more than 6% Tuesday. Shares are rattled after its CEO sold more than $5 million worth of the social micro blogging site's stock. JC Penney (JCP) is gaining about 18% after reporting a strong holiday season. The retailer said its same-store sales were up 3.7% in December.