Roundup: U.S. stocks fall as oil plunges

U.S. stocks slumped after wild swings Wednesday, as a further decline in oil prices continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 249.28 points, or 1.56 percent, to 15,766.74. The S&P 500 dipped 22.00 points, or 1.17 percent, to 1,859.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.26 points, or 0.12 percent, to 4,471.69.

Oil prices refreshed their multi-year lows on Wednesday, dragged down by a global supply glut. The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery settled at 26.55 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest level since May 2003.

Investors turned to safe haven assets, such as sovereign bonds and gold, as global stock markets are in full retreat.

European equities saw heavy sell-offs Wednesday on plunging oil, with Germany's benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange tumbling 2.82 percent.

In Asia, Tokyo stocks plummeted Wednesday amid the yen's rise against the U.S. dollar and concerns about the global economic outlook, with the benchmark Nikkei diving over 3 percent to its lowest close in 15 months.

Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.03 percent to end at 2,976.69 points.

In economic news, the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers declined 0.1 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent in December, its smallest increase since August.

"The divergence between upward price pressure for services, led by housing and medical care, and downward price pressure on commodities continued in December," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial.

Meanwhile, U.S. private-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.149 million units, 2.5 percent below the revised November estimate, said the Commerce Department Wednesday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, increased 5.91 percent to end at 27.59 on Wednesday.

In other markets, gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as U.S. equities plummeted on a sharp decline in oil prices.

The most active gold contract for February delivery gained 17.1 dollars, or 1.57 percent, to settle at 1,106.20 dollars per ounce.

The U.S. dollar mixed against other currencies Wednesday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.12 percent at 99.138 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro lost to 1.0884 dollars from 1.0917 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.4173 dollars from 1.4179 dollars. The dollar bought 116.94 Japanese yen, lower than 117.49 yen of the previous session. Endit