Welcome | Log In
Wall Street

Oil Prices Spike, Stocks Plummet

Print Version
E-Mail Article
Reprints

Oil price fears combined with warnings from the technology sector, blue chip General Motors and the release of June employment data on Friday morning to make the day a train wreck on Wall Street.


Entering European Markets: A Challenging but Real Opportunity
Although the U.S. has a large Internet population, 79 percent of all Web users are now outside the U.S. Online retailers have viable options for entering into international expansion mode, particularly with respect to European markets. [Download PDF: 6 pgs | 686k]

Investor worry that the oil supply to the United States could be disrupted heading into the long holiday weekend reverberated on Wall Street Thursday, when stocks went sharply lower.

Oil prices were up more than 3 percent Thursday after gaining 4 percent on Wednesday when the U.S. announced a surprising drop in stockpiles.

The gains were attributed to fears of terrorist attacks heading into the July 4th holiday.

Oil price fears combined with warnings from the technology sector, blue chip General Motors (NYSE: GM) More about General Motors and the release of June employment data on Friday morning to make the day a train wreck on Wall Street.

Market Numbers

The Dow plunged 101.32, or just under 1 percent, closing at 10,334.16.

The Nasdaq posted an even bigger proportional loss, shedding 32.24, or 1.5 percent, to close at 2,015.55.

The S&P was lower by 1 percent, ending the day down 11.86 points to 1,128.98.

Reading Tea Leaves

Stocks, which had seen two days of modest gains leading up to the Fed's interest rate decision on Wednesday, were pushed lower by earnings warnings.

Computer memory maker Emulex lost 18 percent after it said its current quarter would disappoint because of "tepid" demand.

Yahoo! was off 5 percent after a downgrade from Smith Barney.

GM shares fell almost 3 percent after it said June sales in the U.S. were 15 percent lower than a year ago.

Federal Open Market Committee Meeting

Also fueling the fire were the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting that resulted in a quarter-point hike in interest rates.

The minutes showed disagreement among committee members about whether to remove language referring to a "measured" approach, leading to speculation that more dramatic rate hikes remain on the table.

That possibility boosted U.S. Treasury bonds, which traded slightly higher Thursday.

Social Networking Toolbox:

Print Version E-Mail Article Reprints More by ECT News Business Desk   RSS

Don't miss a story -- sign up for our FREE e-mail newsletters and view the latest headlines at a glance.
Tech News Flash [ View Sample ]
E-Commerce Minute [ View Sample ]
ECT News Network Weekly Newsletter [ View Sample ]
Shortcuts
  WiFi Hotspot Locator
City or Zip/Postal Code:
Country/Region:
ECT News Network Information
Locate Products and Services
Corporate
Reader Services
ECT News Network