Wall Street closes mixed as crude prices fall sharply

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market closed mixed Wednesday with a sharp decline in crude oil prices.

The Dow fell 69 points to close at 20,855 and the S&P was down five points to 2,362.

The Nasdaq, however, added three points to finish at 5,837.

Oil prices were down around 5 percent as the dollar extended gains with the rising possibility of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $50.29 on a 5.4 percent decline.

International benchmark Brent crude was at $53.21 -- a 4.9 percent loss.