Stocks Dip on Bad Oil News

Stocks fell today as oil producers and miners faced fears a slow economy would hamper demand. Crude dropped as low as $78.98 as Columbus Day brought the slowest trading session of the year; the Dow closed at 14,043.73, down 22.28. Exxon and Occidental both saw declines, and copper led tin, lead, aluminum, and nickel into negative territory, Bloomberg reports.

The S&P 500 dropped 5.01 to 1,552.58, while the Nasdaq picked up 7.05 points to close at 2,787.37. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.4% in the third quarter, significantly underperforming the 3.8% in the previous three months. "What we're experiencing now is a real slowdown in economic growth," said one analyst. (More Dow Jones stories.)