After dipping into the red briefly this morning, small caps swung into the green, but remain almost flat midday, as earnings from tech heavy weight Hewlett-Packard, gains in the dollar, and a decline in crude overshadowed concerns surrounding the financial sector, notably Freddie and Fannie’s viability.

At 12:15 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 0.50, or 0.07%, at 730.53, while the Dow was up 0.08% and the tech-laden Nasdaq had slipped 0.04%.

The market focused on the positive in the negative news abyss. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), the world’s largest computer maker, posted robust quarterly results that bested the consensus on Wall Street and fueled a surge in the tech-heavy Nasdaq for a good portion of the morning. 

In other positive news, the greenback is gaining against the euro and the yen midday after having trimmed gains earlier in the session. The price moves reflect confidence from overseas investors on the U.S. economy and U.S.-tied assets — including stocks.

As the dollar has rallied, crude oil has turned lower, slipping $1.58 to $112 and change a barrel midday following a report from the Energy Information Administration that oil inventories increased more than forecasted from last week. The commodity has sold off from a surge above $116 a barrel earlier this morning.

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