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) 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) 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.