Richard Drew/The Associated Press

Updated: 10 December 2014 09:13 PM

NEW YORK — Oil resumed its slide on Wednesday and took the stock market down with it.

The catalyst for the latest sell-off in oil was an OPEC report that projected that demand for its crude would sink next year to levels not seen in more than a decade. Demand for the cartel’s oil has been eroded as other countries, such as the U.S. have stepped up production.

The decline in the price of oil accelerated after the Energy Department reported that domestic oil inventories had increased. Analysts had expected a decline.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.88 to close at $60.94 a barrel. The price of oil has now dropped more than 40 percent from a peak of $107 in June.

The fallout from the plunge in the price of oil may be starting to worry investors. While lower oil prices are good for consumers and some industries, if prices continue to drop, some producers may be forced out of business.

“The slide in oil has been pretty dramatic,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives with the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “There is an overreaction to these lower energy prices, which is what we seem to be seeing right now, where it becomes more panic selling.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 33.68 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,026.14. The decline was the biggest for the index since Oct. 13.

ConocoPhillips, Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. lost more than 2 percent as energy producers in the S&P 500 tumbled to their lowest levels since April.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 268.05 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,533.15. The Nasdaq composite fell 82.44 points, or 1.7 percent, to 4,684.03.

Falling oil prices and concerns about global growth have pushed stocks down sharply since they closed at record levels Friday. The market rose that day after the government reported a jump in hiring in November that put the U.S. on track for the healthiest year for job creation since 1999.

“Oil is lower on the reduced demand outlook, and it’s not a surprise to see the rest of the market, at least in sympathy, going down on that,” said Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. “Without any news to prompt the market to move higher today, it puts the onus back on the bulls to see how much conviction they have in buying stocks.”

The resilience of the U.S. economy has prompted investors to speculate that the Federal Reserve will signal next week that it is nearing its first rate increase in more than eight years. The prospect of higher rates is unsettling for some investors as the market’s almost six-year bull run has come against a backdrop of unprecedented stimulus.

Federal Reserve policymakers are scheduled to convene a two-day meeting Tuesday.

“The stronger employment data and economic data that we have gotten has only increased people’s confidence that the Fed is going to be raising rates by the [middle] of next year,” said Rob Eschweiler, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Houston.

Among individual stocks, Yum Brands, which owns the Taco Bell, KFC and Plano-based Pizza Hut chains, was one of the day’s big losers.

The stock slumped after the company cut its profit outlook for the year late Tuesday. It said sales in China were recovering more slowly than expected after a food safety scare. Yum fell $4.69, or 6.2 percent, to $70.53.

Shares of airlines, which are heavy fuel users, rose as oil plunged. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines gained 75 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $41.48. The stock has gained 120 percent this year.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines saw its stock gain 63 cents, or 1.3 percent, to close at $48.94.