Wall Street opens lower as oil begins to fall again

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street opened lower with losses on Thursday as oil prices began falling from their highest level this year.

The Dow Jones fell 44 points to start the day at 17,960. The S&P 500 was down 6 points to open at 2,112, while the Nasdaq lost 19 points to begin the day at 4,955.

At the opening bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $51.45 per barrel with a 1.4 percent decrease, and the international benchmark Brent crude was down to $51.74 a barrel with a 1.2 percent decline.

On Wednesday, West Texas was up to $51.67 a barrel -- its highest level since last July while Brent crude was as high as $52.84 per barrel -- the highest since October.

The recent climb in oil prices was due to falling crude oil inventories in the U.S., supply disruptions in Nigeria, and the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, initial jobless claims in the economy was 264,000 for the week ending June 4, the Labor Department said Thursday. The market expectation was a 270,000 increase.