U.S. Stocks Slip on Crude Oil, Fall Hard

Updated from 4:20 p.m. EDT

Stocks in the U.S. plunged into the close Wednesday after crude oil tapped a new record, as mostly positive earnings and a better-than-expected productivity report failed to pull buyers out of the woodwork.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 206.48 points, or 1.59%, to 12,814.35 -- just shy of the index's session low. The S&P 500 slid 26 points at 1393, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 44.82 points at 2438.49, meaning losses of 0.8% for both.

Stocks began on soft footing, but slid even further after crude oil hit a new high, $123.75 a barrel, even though the government said crude stockpiles were up by 5.7 million barrels last week. Crude later eased to a $1.69 gain at $123.53. ...