No Golden Egg for Stocks

Oil rose to its best level since Oct. 2, gold established its highest level since June 1997 and the corporate news was heavily weighted to the negative. In a nutshell, that's everything you need to know about how stocks fared on Wednesday.

For fans of detail, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell steadily throughout the session, ending down 1% to 8447.35, although off its earlier low of 8407.72. Similarly, the S&P 500 closed down 1.3% to 891.12 after having traded as low as 887.82. The Nasdaq Composite shed 2.2% to 1361.50 vs. its nadir of 1355.60.

The Comp was relatively weak largely because of weakness in semiconductor stocks following a much-wider-than-expected loss from Micron Technology (MU Quote), which tumbled 22.5%. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index fell 7.1% to 297.80, breaking the psychologically significant 300 barrier. ...