Wall Street closes lower as oil prices dive sharply

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

Wall Street closed lower Tuesday as oil prices dived to their lowest level in seven months.

The Dow fell 61 points to end trading at 21,467 and the S&P 500 lost 16 points to 2,437.

The Nasdaq decreased 50 points to finish the day at 6,188.

At the final bell, international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $45.98 per barrel with a 2 percent decline, while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $43.49 a barrel -- a 2.1 percent loss.

Both benchmarks fell to their lowest level in seven months during trading hours.

American oil giants also saw a decline in their shares.

ExxonMobil stock price fell 0.6 percent, while Chevron and ConocoPhillips shares lost 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Markets and investors will closely watch the weekly change in U.S. crude oil stocks and production levels, to be announced by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Crude output in the country increased 15 times in the past 17 weeks, according to the EIA.