Oil prices fall with better-than-expected crude inventories

NEW YORK

Wall Street closed lower Wednesday with weak macroeconomic data and oil prices extending their losses.

The Dow Jones fell 65 points to end the day at 18,481. The S&P 500 was down 11 points to 2,175, while the Nasdaq lost 42 points to 5,217.

Crude prices continued to lose ground after the Energy Information Administration announced U.S. weekly crude oil inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels for the week ending Aug. 17, despite market expectations of a 0.5 million decline.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $46.76 a barrel, a 2.8 percent decline, while international benchmark Brent crude saw a 2 percent loss to hit $48.98.

And Existing Home Sales in the U.S. fell 3.2 percent in July, compared to the previous month, according to National Association of Realtors on Wednesday. The market expectation was a 1.3 percent increase.