Wall Street slides as California shooting adds to investor worries

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday as a shooting in southern California added to investor jitters about rising interest rates and oil prices that dipped below $40 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 158.67 points, or 0.89 percent, to 17,729.68, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 23.11 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,079.52 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 33.08 points, or 0.64 percent, to 5,123.22.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)