Stocks Plunge on Surging Oil

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Stocks lost substantial ground Thursday, as crude oil futures briefly rose to $60 a barrel for the first time, stoking anxieties about the drag on the economy by rising energy prices.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 166.49, or 1.6 percent, to 10,421.44. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 13.15, or 1.1 percent, at 1,200.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 21.37, or 1 percent, to 2,070.66.


Oil futures touched $60 a barrel after a two-session decline as dealers worried that continued strong demand growth would strain global production capacity. A barrel of light crude settled at $59.42, up $1.33, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after peaking at $60.05, an intraday record.


Among local movers, shares of Macerich Co. rose 2.5 percent to $67.27 after the Santa Monica-based real estate investment trust joined the Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400, replacing homebuilder D.R. Horton, which joined the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. D.R. Horton replaced Veritas Software, which agreed to be bought by Symantec Corp.


Cogent Inc. gained 2.3 percent to $27.50 after the South Pasadena-based identification systems firm’s stock was rated “outperform” in new coverage by analyst Brian Gesuale at Raymond James. The price target was set at $31 per share. On Wednesday, the company priced a follow-on offering of 11 million shares of its common stock at $25.50 per share.


And Tetra Tech Inc. edged up 1.9 percent to $13.02 after the Pasadena-based engineering and technical services company announced late Wednesday that it had been awarded five new orders to continue its support to the Missile Defense Agency for services worth up to $101 million over a maximum of 4 years.


On the down side, shares of Ameron International Corp. lost 2.7 percent to $36.71 after the Pasadena-based maker of steel and reinforced concrete pipe for industrial uses reported net income of $5.3 million (62 cents per diluted share) for the second quarter, compared with $6.9 million (82 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenue rose to $176.2 million from $150.5 million in the year-ago period.

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