Dow Drops 358 as Oil Hits $140

The Dow dropped 358 points on Thursday as oil hit a record $140 a barrel on threats from Libya to cut output and comments made by OPEC's president. The drop in the Dow brought the index to a two-year low.

General Motors (GM) fared even worse after the oil rally with the stock hitting 50 year lows. The automaker dropped 10.8% to $11.43.

Financials remained under pressure as Goldman Sachs lowered their outlook on the group. Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) were both down more than 6% at the close.

The NASDAQ could not escape the downdraft as Research in Motion (RIMM), maker of the Blackberry, and Oracle (ORCL) started the ball rolling with good earning reports but forecasts that put a damper on future expectations. The NASDAQ ended up down almost 80 points.

The commodities market fared well with oil leading the way with natural gas, gold, silver, platinum, copper, corn, and soybeans. The comments by the OPEC president of oil possibly reaching $150 this year along with Libya stating that they may cut production due to the market being well supplied just fueled the commodity even higher. Speculators seem to be rushing into the market, and it is unknown exactly how much of an effect they are having on driving the price higher. Congress continues to have hearings on oil market manipulation, but at the moment, nothing has been done. The soft dollar is also not helping to curb the increase in prices.