U.S. stocks tumble with diving oil prices

U.S. stocks accelerated dropping Wednesday, with major stock indices down over 1 percent, undermined by sliding crude prices which fell to fresh five-year lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 268.05 points, or 1.51 percent, to 17,533.15. The S&P 500 shed 33.68 points, or 1.64 percent, to 2,026.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index plummeted 82.44 points, or 1.73 percent, to 4,684.03.

The blue-chip Dow and the broader S&P 500 dipped into one-month lows while the tech-heavy Nasdaq logged the biggest drop since Oct. 10.

Putting a damper on the stock market, U.S. crude prices slipped to new five-year lows Wednesday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries trimmed its demand forecast for 2015.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery moved down 2.88 U.S. dollars to settle at 60.94 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, the lowest since July 2009, while Brent crude for January delivery lost 2.6 dollars to close at 64. 24 dollars a barrel.

Despite being generally beneficial for the overall U.S. economy, a falling in oil prices exerted sorts of uncertainties on the stock market, which propelled some investors to reposition their portfolios heading into the end of the year.

Overseas news came out mixed, with Chinese Shanghai Composite Index rallying 2.9 percent Wednesday, recouping most of its 5.4 percent loss on the previous day, and Japanese shares falling to a two-week low.

Moreover, European stocks mostly fell on Wednesday, extending a deep decline on Tuesday.

On the economic front, U.S. mortgage applications climbed 7.3 percent for the week ending December 5 from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

On corporate news, U.S. warehouse retailer Costco's shares reverse early gains to close down 1.95 percent to 140.25 dollars apiece after the company delivered quarterly earnings above estimates and revenues shy of forecast.

On the previous trading day, U.S. stocks pared early losses to close mixed, as investors pondered over impacts of global market sell-offs.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, jumped 24.45 percent to finish at 18.53 on Wednesday.

In other markets, gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange pulled back from Tuesday's strong rally, with the most active gold contract for February delivery down 2.6 dollars, or 0.21 percent, to settle at 1,229.4 dollars per ounce.

The U.S. dollar went down against most major currencies. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.2444 dollars from 1.2374 dollars in the previous session, and the U.S. dollar bought 118.08 Japanese yen, lower than 119.49 yen of the previous session.