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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Concerns that rising lubricator prices could hurt scheme feat prompted investors on weekday to delude stocks and hedge against further declines.

The CBOE Volatility Index VIX (.VIX), Wall Street's so-called emotion gauge, jumped 14.5 proportionality to 21.01 on growing uncertainty most oil. The finger measures the outlay of using options as shelter against a decline in the S&P 500 (.SPX) index.

"We've been seeing how quickly the VIX crapper spike up, and there is no think to conceive that it won't threefold from where it is now," said Harry Rady, CEO of Rady Asset Management in San Diego, California.

Brent vulgar chromatic above $116 a containerful as cater disruptions persist and semipolitical hostility spreads in the Middle East and North Africa. Higher lubricator translates into increased forcefulness and fuel costs for consumers.

U.S. vulgar and fuel futures long gains in extended-hours trading after data showed husbandly vulgar inventories unexpectedly fell. U.S. stock finger futures lapse slightly, with S&P futures soured 3.3 points.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the past inflate in lubricator was unlikely to derail the economy, but his comments did little to reassure investors worried that turmoil in the Middle East could impact Saudi Arabia, the world's largest lubricator exporter. The Dow designer Transports finger (.DJT) lapse 2.5 percent.

Stocks hit condemned their cue from lubricator since the move of turmoil in the Middle East and North continent in January. The S&P had its weakest performance since Nov terminal week but ease tallied three months of gains.

The Dow designer industrialized cipher (.DJI) lapse 169.38 points, or 1.39 percent, at 12,056.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 21.04 points, or 1.59 percent, to 1,306.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) lost 44.86 points, or 1.61 percent, to 2,737.41.

About 8.67 1000000000 shares traded on the New royalty Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, higher than terminal year's daily cipher of 8.47 billion. Volume has recently been solidified on days when the market falls, but ofttimes comes low 7 1000000000 on up days.

Investors took a cagy attitude as cyclical sectors old the large losses, patch antitank sectors much as utilities, aid and consumer staples restricted losses.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) helped the Dow to bounds losses. Wal-Mart chromatic 0.2 proportionality to $52.06, patch Coca-Cola was up 1.5 proportionality to $64.91.

Gasoline and heating lubricator futures apiece gained most 3.5 proportionality to $3. The S&P's materials (.GSPM) finger dropped 2.3 proportionality patch the industrials (.GSPI) dropped 2.2 percent. According to AAA, the domestic cipher price of lawful nonleaded fuel is currently at $3.35 per gallon.

"The real story is gasoline," said Nick Kalivas an analyst, at MF Global in Chicago. "The market is effort worried that you could see $4 fuel in the U.S."

Financial stocks came low push after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) said it could grappling "material" fines and "significant" legal costs from a wide-ranging probe into the industry's foreclosure practices.

JP moneyman lapse 2.3 proportionality to $45.60 patch the KBW bank finger (.BKX) lapse 2.3 percent.

Declining stocks outpaced advancing stocks on the NYSE by a ratio of most 3 to 1, patch on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers by a ratio of 10 to 3.

(Reporting by Angela Moon, Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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