Shares Fall as Oil Hits New High, Microsoft Withdraws Bid for Yahoo
Wall Street pulled back Monday after Microsoft decided to withdraw its bid for Yahoo and oil prices rose to a new record, near $120 a barrel.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average fell 88.66, or 0.68 percent, to 12,969.54. Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 6.41, or 0.45 percent, to 1407.49, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 12.87, or 0.52 percent, to 2464.12.</br></br>Microsoft had offered $47.5 billion to buy Yahoo but scrapped the bid late Saturday after the software maker and the Internet portal could not agree on a sale price. The failed deal came as a disappointment to Wall Street.</br></br>The jump in oil prices raised concern that inflation could force consumers, who account for more than two-thirds of the economy, to cut their spending on discretionary items. Crude oil futures surged to a new trading high of $120.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back to settle at a record $119.97, up $3.65. The jump came after worries over supply disruptions in Nigeria, Iran and Iraq.</br></br>"Energy is a very important piece," said Russell Croft, portfolio manager at Croft Leominster Investment Management in Baltimore, referring to the mood of both investors and consumers. "It's the price at the pump; it's what people read about."