Stocks fell Wednesday, erasing gains at the end of a mostly positive session, as record oil and gasoline prices countered an attempt to rally for a second consecutive day. Stocks rose until the early afternoon as investors continued to welcome the Federal Reserve's plan to restore calm to the credit markets, announced Tuesday. But the advance lost momentum late in the session and stocks turned negative as investors considered record energy prices. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones index jumped 416 points-its fourth-biggest one-day point gain in history and the biggest one-day point gain since mid-2002. Sparking the advance was the Fed's decision to lend up to $200 billion to banks in an effort to loosen tight credit markets. The central bank's move continued to support big financial firms' stock Wednesday, including Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, but the broader market struggled to maintain gains. U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record high for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, and light sweet crude for April delivery rose $1.19 to $109.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a record closing price. Earlier in the afternoon, the oil-future contract hit a record trading high of $110.20 a barrel. Oil had fallen in the morning after the U.S. government's weekly oil-inventory report showed a surprising jump in crude and gasoline supplies. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 46.57, or 0.4 percent, to 12,110.24. Caterpillar said late Tuesday that 2008 sales and earnings will surpass earlier forecasts, and its shares rose almost 4 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.88, or 0.9 percent, to 1,308.77. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 11.89, or 0.5 percent, to 2,243.87. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 61.45 to 8,781.23. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 7.00 to 2,306.39. And the Russell 2000 index fell 6.50 to 667.31.
