Wall Street closes mixed as crude declines, banks gain

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street closed mixed Wednesday as a decline in oil prices were balanced with gains by investment banks.

The Dow decreased 22 points to end the trading day at 19,804 -- closing with losses for a fourth consecutive day.

The S&P added four points to finish at 2,271 and the Nasdaq rose 16 points to 5,555.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 2 percent to $51.30 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude was at $54.20 -- a 2.2 percent decline.

Banking giants Bank of America and Morgan Stanley saw their stocks increase 2.6 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. Both banks recently posted fourth-quarter gains.