U.S. stocks declined Wednesday, with shares of Ford Motor Co. slipping and investors skittish ahead of weekly oil inventory data. Ford Motor Co. fell 1.2 percent to $9.86, while ailing auto parts supplier Visteon Corp. rose 24 percent to $7.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. Visteon said it was restructuring its agreement with former parent Ford by unloading plants and transferring U.S. union workers. Ford said it sees special charges in 2005 related to the buy-outs for hourly workers, according to Reuters. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 53.12 points, or 0.51 percent, at 10,450.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 5.40 points, or 0.45 percent, at 1,188.67. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 12.03 points, or 0.58 percent, at 2,049.59. Traders were awaiting release of weekly petroleum inventory data at 10:30 a.m. EDT. A Reuters poll of 14 analysts forecast that crude stocks rose by an average of 1.2 million barrels. U.S. light sweet crude for July delivery was up 3 cents at $49.70 a barrel. "If the oil data comes in significantly different from expectations it will play a role in moving the market," said Bill Punk, managing partner at Punk Ziegel & Co. "Otherwise, I think the market is just backing off in an orderly fashion." --More 2208 Local Time 1908 GMT
