Wall Street closes mixed on positive data, oil decline

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street closed mixed Tuesday after positive macroeconomic data and a falling crude oil prices.

The Dow Jones rose 26 points to end the day at 18,559 points. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 2,163 and the Nasdaq decreased 19 points to finish at 5,036.

While the Dow closed higher for the eighth day in a row, it was the sixth consecutive day the index finished at an all-time high.

Housing starts in June jumped by 4.8 percent from the previous month, well above market expectations of 0.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department.

In addition, building permits rose by 1.5 percent last month, beating expectations of 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, oil prices were on decline Tuesday with concerns about global oversupply.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $45.45 a barrel -- a 1.1 percent loss, and international benchmark Brent crude was down 0.6 percent to $46.67.

The markets will focus Wednesday on the change in the U.S.'s weekly crude oil and gasoline inventories.