Wall Street Follows Dow Chemical Lower

Updated from 4:09 p.m. EST

Stocks in New York ended Monday with modest losses in a less-than-merry start to the final week of 2008.

While they ended in negative territory, each of the major indices remained off their worst lows of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, earlier in the day off as much as 151 points, in the end shed 31.62 points, or 0.4%, to 8483.93. The S&P 500 edged down 3.38 points or 0.4% to 869.42, and the Nasdaq lost 19.92 points or 1.3% to 1510.32.

Oil rose $2.31 to settle at $40.02 a barrel after a volatile day with early and late rallies attributed to the possibility that Israeli attacks in Gaza could lead to restrictions in regional supply. ...