United States stocks fall amid data, oil prices

At 1723 GMT (10:53 p.m.in India), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 289.43 points, or 1.65 per cent, at 17,285.32, with all its components in the red.

Futures markets pointed to a 1.1% opening loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The S&P 500 index rose 4.61 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,052.23. Freeport McMoRan, a miner that fell 7 percent on Tuesday, rose 3.7 percent, gaining 25 cents to close at $6.99.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index lost 1.74 per cent of its value, closing down 226.64 points to settle at 12,789.95.

The Nasdaq composite declined 111.71 points, or 2.2 percent, to 4,933.47.

Total sales for the September 2015 through November 2015 period were up 1.7 percent from the same period a year ago.

Another big drop in the price of oil sent Canada's largest stock market into sharp retreat Friday in a sell-off that also drove the commodity-sensitive loonie below 73 cents US for the first time since mid-2004. USA crude fell another 1.5 percent to $36 a barrel early Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 the lowest it's been since February 2009.

One day after surging on news of their merger talks, Dow Chemical lost 3.6 per cent, while DuPont added 0.1 per cent. Some analysts warned a deal could face tough scrutiny from antitrust regulators. The companies eventually plan on creating three publicly-traded companies focusing on agriculture, material sciences and specialty products, respectively.

On Friday, investors will likely focus on November retail sales data, which includes the start of the crucial holiday shopping season.

Adobe Systems was up 3.3 percent at $91.85 after the Photoshop maker reported a profit that topped market expectations for the ninth straight quarter.

Investors are also awaiting the outcome of the Fed meeting on December 15-16. Core prices had been expected to inch up by 0.1 percent.

Crude-oil prices fell again yesterday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it pumped more oil last month than any month in three years. Its shares rose 1.6%.

ENERGY: The price of US benchmark crude fell further, sinking 57 cents to $36.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Recent economic reports indicate that the US economy is healthy enough to withstand a rate hike.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 122.04 yen from 121.94 yen.

Elsewhere in Europe, auto makers were down 2.6%, with France'sRenault SA down 4.5%. The euro strengthened to $1.0967 from $1.0937.