US stocks tumble as oil prices leap

Without new data to gauge the economy’s health and only a handful of earnings reports, Wall Street turned its attention to the commodities markets, where oil prices topped 70 dollars a barrel and gold lingered at a 25-year hig But despite the threat of rising raw material costs, the inflation picture has remained somewhat positive recently, said Russ Koesterich, portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investments.

“Core inflation (excluding volatile energy and food prices) has stayed relatively contained,” Koesterich said, adding that this week’s reports on wholesale and consumer inflation should indicate where prices are increasing and draw a reaction from Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 63.87, or 0.57%, to 11,073.78, after opening the day in positive territory. The Dow is at its lowest level since closing at 10,972.28 on March 9.

Broader stock indicators were also lower. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.79, or 0.29%, to 1,285.33, and the Nasdaq composite index sank 14.95, or 0.64%, to 2,311.16.

Bonds rebounded from last week’s slide, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipping to 5.01% from 5.05% late on Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, and gold prices soared past 600 dollars an ounce.

Political tension in Iran and Nigeria and concerns about shrinking US gasoline reserves drove crude futures to their highest levels since hurricanes shut down much of Gulf Coast production late last summer. A barrel of light crude jumped 1.08 dollars to settle at 70.40 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where gasoline climbed 6.1 cents to 2.170 dollars a gallon.

The Federal Reserve’s Empire State manufacturing index – a measure of industrial activity in the New York region – dropped by almost half to 15.8 for April, missing economists’ prediction of 24.

Aside from data on home building and inflation this week, investors will be focused entirely on corporate earnings. They will be looking for clues as to how companies – about half the Dow Jones industrials are scheduled to report this week – have dealt with higher interest rates, increased lending costs and an upswing in oil prices, as well as what they expect in the coming months.

“It’s ultimately going to come down to how companies are responding” to all of these pressures, said Jack Caffrey, equities strategist for JPMorgan Private Bank. “It’s worth noting that second- and third-quarter expectations have ticked higher over the past week or so.”

Citigroup’s earnings grew 4% to reach 1.12 dollars per share for the quarter, with strength in stocks and fixed-income returns helping it beat analysts’ average estimate of 1.02 dollars per share.

Citigroup added 30 cents to 48.35 dollars.

Elsewhere in the sector, Wachovia Corp. said its quarterly profit gained 7% on higher overall revenue and fees. Adjusted earnings of 1.12 dollars per share matched Wall Street’s target, but Wachovia nonetheless slid 80 cents to 55.05 dollars.

Discount broker Charles Schwab Corp. posted a sharp 68% jump in quarterly earnings – profit of 19 cents per share met analysts’ estimates – as revenue climbed to its highest levels since the dot-com era. Charles Schwab also dropped 25 cents to 17.34 dollars.

Tyco International Ltd. Said it agreed to pay regulators 50 million dollars (£41.3 million) to settle accounting fraud charges, but did not admit any wrongdoing. The troubled technology conglomerate has been under investigation since 2002. Tyco fell 8 cents to 25.93 dollars.

The market shifted at midday and had declining issues ahead of advancers by 6 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume of 1.28 billion shares matched the 1.28 billion shares that changed hands Thursday. The markets were closed Friday in observance of Good Friday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies declined 1.64, or 0.22%, to 749.47.