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U.S. stocks extend losses as oil keeps sliding

Xinhua, December 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower in the morning session on Tuesday, as weak commodities prices continued to weigh on market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 162.51 points, or 0.92 percent, to 17,588.00. The S&P 500 lost 13.48 points, or 0.65 percent, to 2,063.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 3.57 points, or 0.07 percent, to 5,098.24.

Oil prices fell Tuesday as market expected that global supplies will continue to exceed demand. The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery shed about 0.4 percent, while Brent crude for January delivery dropped over 1 percent. The declining crude prices knocked down shares of major oil companies.

Oil prices closed near seven-year lows Monday after the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last Friday to keep crude production pumping at current level in an already oversupplied market.

"Crude oil fell to a new 7-year low yesterday, proving once again 'temporary' and 'transitory' can take longer to play out than anyone anticipates," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial Tuesday.

In Asia markets, Tokyo shares ended trading Tuesday lower as concerns over plunging oil prices in the global market shadowed the buoyant sentiment brought by positive revised Japan's July-September gross domestic product data.

China's stocks also closed lower on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.89 percent to 3,470.07 points.

U.S. stocks fell Monday after Friday's big rally, dragged down by a sharp decline in energy as oil prices hit a near-seven-year low. Endit