Wall Street Slides as Oil Falls Below $40 a Barrel

Once again, almost like clockwork, the stock markets fell in the last hour.

After searching for a direction for much of the day, Wall Street dropped sharply late Thursday, falling nearly 300 points and erasing many of its gains from a 5 percent rally earlier in the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 219.35 points or 2.49 percent to 8,604.99 and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 2.1 percent, or 19.08 points, to 885.34 points. The Nasdaq fell 1.7 percent.

Oil prices also fell — settling at $36.22, down $3.84 a barrel — their lowest levels in more than four years. The OPEC cartel said this week that it would cut production by another 2.2 million barrels a day, but a widening global recession has shown no signs of relenting anytime soon.

Oil and gas consumption has plunged as the economy has deteriorated, dragging oil prices down from their July peak of slightly more than $145 a barrel. Energy stocks were pulled down as well, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil falling about 2 percent.