NEW YORK (AFP) - A late-day jump in crude oil prices sent Wall Street into a tailspin, after early enthusiasm from strong earnings reports in the tech sector faded.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 74.85 points (0.74 percent) to 10,002.33, after slipping below 10,000 briefly.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 4.64 points (0.24 percent) to 1,920.53, and the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index shed 8.19 points (0.73 percent) to 1,113.65.
An early rally inspired by strong results from Yahoo and Intel faded by mid-morning and the selloff accelerated late in the day as oil prices started climbing.
New York's main crude oil contract jumped 1.13 dollars to 53.64 dollars.
Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak, said the retreat from early gains reinforces the market's trading range.
"The market can't break out on the upside because of concerns about earnings and where the economy is going," he said.
The market was also roiled by sharp drops in commodity prices including copper, prompting concerns for mining firms and others that a long rally in commodities may be ending.
"You've got energy stocks down, commodities stocks down, oil spiking again in late afternoon trade -- all of those things are causing downward pressure on the market," said Art Hogan chief market strategist at Jefferies and Co.
European stock markets put in a mixed performance, as traders monitored oil prices and weakness in metals and mining stocks.
The London FTSE 100 index fell 0.28 percent to 4,634.8, while the Frankfurt DAX 30 won 0.24 percent to 3,976.03 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.15 percent to 3,694.32.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares edged up 0.15 percent to 2,792.21.
In the energy sector, ExxonMobil slipped 89 cents to 48.48, ChevronTexaco lost 1.16 to 53.31 and ConocoPhillips shed 2.39 to 83.01.
McDonald's was a standout among blue chips, rallying 1.31 or 4.75 percent to 28.86 after lifting its third-quarter profit outlook.
In technology, Yahoo jumped 73 cents to 34.96 after reporting a doubling of revenues and tripling of profits from a year earlier.
Intel snapped higher with a gain of 71 cents to 20.99 after reporting a 15 percent in its quarterly earnings.
Microsoft was unchanged at 28.03 a day after unveiling a new version of its Windows XP operating system aimed at facilitating music and other media on computers.
Boeing lost 17 cents to 50.23 after snagging a 767 million dollar contract for design and construction of unmanned combat planes.
The bond market rebounded from early losses, as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond dipped to 4.078 percent from 4.102 percent Tuesday while that on the 30-year bond fell to 4.871 percent against 4.880 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.