U.S. stocks ended a strong 2014 with moderate declines Wednesday. There was no major catalyst for Wednesday's selling. Trading has been slow all week because of the holidays and most fund managers have closed their books for the year. Energy companies fell as the price of oil declined yet again.

Markets will be closed Thursday for New Year's Day. They will resume a regular schedule on Friday.

On Wednesday:

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 160 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,823.07.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 21.45 points, or 1 percent, to 2,058.90.

The Nasdaq composite fell 41.39 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,736.05.

For the week:

The Dow is down 230.64 points, or 1.3 percent.

The S&P 500 is down 29.87 points, or 1.4 percent.

The Nasdaq composite is down 70.81 points, or 1.5 percent.

For 2014:

The Dow rose 1,246.41 points, or 7.5 percent.

The S&P 500 index is up 210.54 points, or 11.4 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 559.46 points, or 13.4 percent.