Stocks dropped Friday after another spike in oil prices overshadowed a report that the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly two years.
Crude oil rose 2.2 percent to more than $104 a barrel, its highest level since September 2008, after fighting in Libya escalated. Markets have been rattled over the past two weeks as higher oil prices threaten to undermine the economic recovery by increasing transportation and production costs.
Higher energy prices sent stocks lower despite news that the U.S. job market is improving. The Labor Department reported that unemployment rate dipped to 8.9 percent from 9 percent the previous month. The rate has dropped for three months in a row and is now at its lowest level since April 2009. Employers added 192,000 jobs in February, in the range of what economists expected.
"They're tugging at each other, employment and oil," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. "Oil is high enough that it has to be a concern. The longer it remains at this level the greater the chance that it upends our recovery." source
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