Slumping oil, commodity prices halt stock rally
NEW YORK — Tumbling demand for commodities and a drop in the euro put financial markets on edge Wednesday, pulling the Dow Jones industrial average down by more than 150 points.
Demand for gasoline in the U.S. fell by the largest amount in seven weeks, the Energy Information Administration said, a signal that consumers are conserving money as gas prices near a national average of $4 a gallon. Gas futures fell almost 8 percent. Crude oil fell back below $100 a barrel, a loss of more than 4 percent.
Consumers typically buy more gasoline when the economy is getting stronger. Fewer fill-ups may result in a drop in consumer and business spending as customers forgo trips to malls and restaurants and companies ship fewer products.
Stocks fell broadly, with energy and materials companies suffering the worst declines. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 152 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,609 in afternoon trading. The S&P 500 fell 18, or 1.3 percent, to 1,339. The Nasdaq composite lost 35, or 1.2 percent, to 2,837.
The market's losses accelerated shortly before noon. The dollar and government bond prices rose as traders moved money into safer assets. The dollar rose 0.8 percent against a group of other major currencies. The euro dropped 1.5 percent against the dollar.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.16 percent from 3.22 percent late Tuesday. Bond yields fall when their prices rise.
Energy stocks fell 3 percent, the most of any of the 10 industries in the S&P 500 index. Denbury Resources Inc. and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. both fell nearly 5 percent.
Materials producers also struggled after metals prices sank. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., a miner, fell 5.3 percent. Copper fell 3.2 percent, and silver lost 7.7 percent. Silver fell sharply last week as part of a sell-off in commodities.
Commodities are still more expensive than they were a year ago. High oil prices helped push the nation's trade deficit up 6 percent to $48.2 billion in March from February. U.S. companies sold more automobiles and other goods and services to customers abroad, but it wasn't enough to make up for an 18 percent rise in oil imports.
Strong earnings have been carrying the market higher since the beginning of 2011. On Tuesday the S&P 500 climbed for the third straight day to within 0.5 percent of its highest close for the year.
"Every time that stocks start to go down a little bit, you're seeing more selling pile on because people have made so much profit over the past 9 months," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners, a New York-based hedge fund.
Disney's results late Tuesday fell short of expectations, and its stock fell 5.7 percent, the most of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow. The earthquake that struck Japan in March cut into revenues at its theme parks there, and its movie studio profits took a hit from the box-office bomb "Mars Needs Moms."
Macy's Inc. was among the few companies that rose. The company jumped 7.5 percent after its earnings blew past expectations. The parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores said its first-quarter net income more than quintupled to $131 million from $23 million. The company raised its forecast for full-year earnings and doubled its quarterly dividend to 10 cents.
American International Group Inc. rose 3 percent after the government said it would sell 200 million of the 1.66 billion shares in the insurer that it owns to the public. The Treasury Department owns 92 percent of AIG after the company got bailed out during the financial crisis.
Intel Corp. rose 1 percent after the chip maker increased its quarterly dividend to 21 cents from 16