U.S. shares went down as the prices of oil lowered to their lowest since November and airlines pulled industrial stocks down as a blizzard hit the U.S. Northeast.
Shares of hospital operators were affected after a nonpartisan research report revealed that 14 million Americans would lose medical insurance by next year under a Republican proposal.
Trading volume was low ahead of a Federal Reserve coming later on Wednesday in which the U.S. central bank is expected to increase interest rates by 25 basis points.
After a blizzard swept through the heavily populated northeastern United States, effectively postponing thousands of flights, stocks of Airlines dropped. United Continental went down 4.7 percent to $66.55 while Southwest Airlines lost 3.0 percent and American Airlines fell 2.7 percent.
The S&P energy sector fell 1.1 percent to its lowest since November 4, as the prices of oil fell to the lowest since late November after OPEC issued a report that global crude inventories are rising and increased its forecast of production in 2017 from outside the group, suggesting complications in an effort to clear an oversupply and support prices.
Chevron dropped 1.8 percent and was the largest decliner on the Down and the S&P 500.
“None of the data you’re getting is good if you’re trying to increase (crude) prices; it doesn’t look like oil supply is diminishing,” senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh Kim Forrest said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average went down 0.21 percent or 44.11 points to 20,837.37.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.34 percent or 8.02 points to 2,365.45.
The Nasdaq Composite went down 0.32 percent or 18.97 points to 5,856.82.