Dow Caps Off Brutal Week With 315-Point Drop (Oil Finishes at $57.81)

[big_dog]

Source: USA Today

Stocks plunged again Friday with Wall Street capping off one of its worst weeks of the year as tumbling oil prices spooked markets. It was Wall Street's first losing week after seven straight weeks of gains. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 315.51 points, or 1.8%, to 17,280.83. The blue-chip index fell 678 points, or 3.8%, this week, its worst week since Sept. 2011.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index tumbled 32 points, or 1.6%, to 2002.33 and closed off the week down 3.5%, its lowest since Oct. 30 and its worst week since May 2012. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 54.57 points, or 1.2%, to 4653.40 and was down about 2.7% for the week. Falling oil prices weighed on the stock market again. Oil slumped after the International Energy Agency said global oil demand in 2015 will grow less than previously forecast.

U.S. benchmark oil slipped $2.14, or 3.6%, to $57.81 a barrel. Oil was down 12.6% for the week. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 index fell 1.4%, taking their loss for the year to 15.9%.

"The move, especially this week, has been entirely related to oil" said James Liu, global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Funds. "In the fourth quarter you're going to see a lot of pain from the energy sector."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2014/12/12/stocks-friday/20295995/

[Wounded Bear]

1. I think they finally realized the Repubs won...

The Rs are pretty good at tanking the market.

[big_dog]

2. gas wars breaking out in OKC, some priced at $1.95 a gallon

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/05/368769627/coming-soon-to-a-filling-station-near-you-1-99-gasoline

[llmart]

3. Now that the gas prices are actually reasonable......

our two-faced, tax and spend Repug governor, Dick Snyder wants to raise the gas tax to fix the roads.

Yeah, I know his first name is Rick but Dick suits him better.

[hueymahl]

6. Not following your logic

He may be d-bag repug, but raising taxes on gas and oil is generally a good thing, even better if it is being directed to infrastructure improvements. Or did I miss the sarcasm?

[llmart]

7. No sarcasm intended.

There are other ways to find the money to fix them, but the legislature and he wants to take money from education and tax the little guy. The gas tax will hurt the middle class the most. I can guarandamntee you that if this was a Democratic governor, the uproar would be ear shattering. It's downright hypocritical.

[hueymahl]

8. Got it - figured there was more to the story! NT

[DallasNE]

4. Too Simplistic

There are always a number of trends that converge - sometimes favorably, sometimes not. What is going on in Washington D.C. always has an impact as well. This sell-off is too broad based for it to be "entirely related to oil".

[big_dog]

5. watch it go back up after they repeal Dodd-Frank this weekend

and put us on the hook for 305 trillion in gambling options

[jtuck004]

9. I bet the 50 million people in povert herey, especially the kids, barely felt it. n/t

[question everything]

10. Heard that ISIL is partly to blame

That it took control of the refineries in Mosul and have been selling at $30 a barrel. Thus, ironically ISIL is helping the downtrodden...