Stocks Fold in Face of Higher Oil, Weak Retail

Updated from 4:07 p.m. EDT

Stocks in New York briefly flirted with positivity Wednesday afternoon but sold off into the close after an increase in crude prices and disappointing July retail sales news earlier in the day dealt a double blow to investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 109.51 points, or 0.9%, to 11,532.96, and the S&P 500 dropped 3.77 points, or 0.3%, to 1,285.82. The Nasdaq shed 1.99 points, or 0.1%, to 2,428.62.

Crude-oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 8 decreased by 400,000 barrels, and gasoline supplies dropped by 6.4 million barrels. The price of crude oil jumped $3.27 to $116.28 a barrel following the announcement. Gold rose $16.90 to close at $831.50 an ounce. ...