Stocks Slip on Oil Worries, Dismal Data

Updated from 10:49 a.m. EDT

Stocks in the U.S. fell into the afternoon Friday as investors digested mixed earnings reports, a return to surging oil prices, and a confirmation of poor consumer-sentiment numbers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose out of the gate, but was recently shedding 69 points to 12,780, and the S&P 500 lost 4 points to 1385. The Nasdaq Composite, dragged lower by Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) disappointing near-term guidance, was sliding 32 points to 2397.

"I think we're just seeing a normal Friday in a somewhat jittery market," said Steven Sheldon, CFA and principal with SMS Capital Management. "I think the market's just getting set up for next week's [Federal Reserve] meeting, and oil prices continue to be rather volatile. Every day we're getting head-faked up and down."

Crude-oil futures, after sustaining a big drop Thursday, were ballooning in the new session on a raft of supply-disruption concerns.

News broke that a ship contracted by the U.S. military fired warning shots at two Iranian ships, which spurred worries of a U.S.-Iran conflict that could halt shipments from the Gulf. Also, Militants in Nigeria said they had attacked another pipeline, and Bloomberg reported that Britain's BP (BP Quote) will begin shutting down a major North Sea pipeline tomorrow ahead of a planned refinery strike in Scotland.

Crude was jumping $2.91 to $118.97, and gold futures were also taking back some of yesterday's losses, lately climbing $5.30 to $892.10.

The dollar continued to edge higher against the euro, however, recently adding 0.3% at $1.5630 after backpedaling from more substantial early gains. Against the yen, the greenback was off 0.2% to 104.16.