NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks largely went down on Tuesday as U.S. oil prices continued to slide, touching a three- year low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17.60 points, or 0.10 percent, to 17,383.84. The S&P 500 lost 5.71 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,012.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 15.27 points, or 0.33 percent, to 4,623.64.
The major stock indices kept below flatline in most of the trading session, as investor sentiment was dampened by sinking oil prices over weak global demand.
U.S. crude for December delivery dropped to as low as 75.84 U.S. dollars a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest price since October 2011, following news that Saudi Arabia reduced the cost of its oil exported to the United States. Meanwhile, Brent crude for December delivery slipped to a more than four-year low near 82 dollars a barrel.
Declining crude prices pressured oil companies. Exxon Mobil shares dipped 0.78 percent to 94.52 dollars per share, while Chevron shares fell 1.21 percent to 115.37 dollars apiece.
Cautious investors are also awaiting midterm election outcome which casts sort of uncertainties over the market.
On the economic front, the U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services increased to 43.0 billion dollars in September from the revised 40.0 billion dollars in August, said the Commerce Department Tuesday.
U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in September decreased 0. 6 percent, worse than expected, the department said in a separate report Tuesday.
Among other companies, Alibaba's shares hit a record intraday high, up 4.19 percent to close at 106.07 dollars per share, as the Chinese e-commerce giant delivered a solid quarterly earnings report Tuesday. Its revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 was 2.742 billion dollars, an increase of 53.7 percent compared to the year-ago level, mainly driven by its lucrative online retail business and increased active buyers.
Excluding the effects of share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets and certain other items, the company's non-GAAP net income in the quarter stood at 1.109 billion dollars, up 15.5 percent from the same period of the previous year.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose slightly by 1.09 percent to finish at 14.89 on Tuesday.
In other markets, the dollar fell against most major currencies. In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.2556 dollars from 1.2489 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 113.57 Japanese yen, lower than 113.78 yen of the previous session.
Crude prices plunged as Saudi Arabia reduced the prices of its crude sold to the United States.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery moved down 1.59 dollars to settle at 77.19 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery lost 1.96 dollars to close at 82.82 dollars a barrel.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped for a fifth session, coming under pressure from a decline in oil prices.
The most active gold contract for December delivery lost 2.1 dollars, or 0.18 percent, to settle at 1,167.7 dollars per ounce.
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