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Record Oil Spike, High Jobless Rate Sink Stock Market
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The sharp rise in crude oil prices was also fueled in part by supply fears. Israel's Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz -- a former defense minister and contender for the post of prime minister -- told the Hebrew-language newspaper Yediot Ahronot that Israel would attack Iran if Tehran did not abandon its nuclear program.
Nigerian workers were also threatening to go on strike at Chevron operations in the oil-rich West African nation. Chevron produces about 350,000 barrels of oil there.
On stock markets, all of this news looked grim. High oil prices have drained money from consumers' pockets and boosted costs for most businesses. They have also siphoned about $1.5 billion a day out of the U.S. economy and into the coffers of oil-producing countries.
News that the European central bank indicated that its next rate move would be an increase, not a cut, also added to the gloom.
Stocks opened the day down sharply and continued to fall across the board except for a handful of gold and energy companies. Even some of the big oil company shares dipped as investors took profits.
"It's ugly. Everything is getting beat up today," said Todd Leone, managing director at Cowen & Co. "Right across the board, I have all red on my screen."
"It looks like the market is taking a return to the panic room," said Ed Rombach, a senior derivatives analyst at Thomson Financial.
Staff writers Jonathan Weisman and Tomoeh Murakami Tse contributed to this report.
