Wall Street closes lower as fears grow of Fed rate hike

NEW YORK (AA) - The U.S. stock market closed lower Thursday on growing fears that the Federal Reserve could institute a rate hike this year.

The Dow Jones fell 92 points to end the day at 17,435 points. The S&P 500 decreased 8 points to close at 2,040, while the Nasdaq was down 27 points to 4,712.

With the new numbers, the Dow has barely stayed in positive territory for the year and the S&P erased gains since the beginning of 2016.

A day after the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) April meeting minutes indicated the possibility of an interest rate hike in June, the Fed’s New York President William Dudley, who is also a voting member and vice-chair of the FOMC, said he is glad the possibility of a rate hike has increased and market expectations of a hike is around 60 percent.

Worries about a hike and a rising dollar pushed crude oil prices lower.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 0.2 percent to $48.10 and international benchmark Brent crude fell 0.4 percent to $48.70.

Also, shares of the world's largest retailer rose almost 9 percent after Walmart’s first quarter results beat market expectations.