Flat close as oil prices drop

The markets closed flat with the Dow edging up a fraction to 17,828 as the markets reacted to falling crude oil prices. Nasdaq climbed 4 points to 4,791.

On the upside

United Continental (NYSE: UAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and Virgin America (Nasdaq: VA) climbed as crude oil prices dropped.

Bloomberg reported that Vodafone (Nasdaq: VOD) was exploring an acquisition of Liberty Global (Nasdaq: LBTYA).

On the downside

Freeport-McMoRan's (NYSE: FCX) copper mine in Indonesia continued struggling to increase production from 80% to full capacity.

Falling crude oil prices weighed down shares of U.S. Silica Holdings (NYSE: SLCA).

Shares of oil companies Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP), Laredo Petroleum (NYSE: LPI), Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS) and SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD) all plunged as crude oil prices dropped.

Oilfield services firm Seventy Seven Energy (NYSE: SSE) plummeted on falling crude oil prices.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 lost 5 points to 2067. Bitcoin rose $7 to $373.