US stocks move lower, led by a decline in energy sector, as price of crude oil falls again

Energy stocks are leading a decline in U.S. indexes as the price of crude oil plunges again.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil fell the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average in midday trading Wednesday. Each stock fell about 3 percent.

The Dow was down 129 points, 0.7 percent, to 17,671 as of 11:55 a.m. Eastern time.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,047. The Nasdaq composite fell 17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,749.

The price of crude oil sank $3.15, or 5 percent, to $60.68 a barrel in New York.

Oil dropped on reports that OPEC had slashed its estimate of how much crude it will need to produce next year due to rising supplies from other producers.