Inflation fears fueled by volatile oil prices, a surge in bond yields and talk of interest rate hikes by the Fed sent stocks tumbling on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 107, or 1 percent, to 10,805.62. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 12.42, or 1 percent, to 1,207.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.26, or 0.6 percent, to close at 2,061.29.

Oil futures came within 2 cents of their all-time intraday high, but fell back late in the session, settling up 6 cents at $54.65 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to its highest level since July, settling at 4.51 percent, up from 4.39 percent late Tuesday. The selling stepped up after the Federal Reserve released its “Beige Book,” which suggested inflation may be starting to rise. Some saw the report as a hint that the Fed might take a more aggressive posture on raising short-term rates when it next meets on March 22.

Among local companies, shares of Mercury Air Group Inc. slumped 22.5 percent to close at $3.48 after the L.A.-based aviation services company announced its board of directors was in the process of evaluating a proposed reverse/forward stock split. If approved, the reverse stock split of Mercury’s common stock would reduce the number of stockholders of record to fewere than 300 from approximately 331.

And Shares of 99 Cents Only Stores fell as much as 12.6 percent after the discount retailer said its recently hired chief financial officer had resigned, along with two board members. The company said Chief Financial Officer Jim Ritter, who joined in mid-December, left to pursue other opportunities. Also resigning were directors Ben Schwartz and Howard Gold, son of company’s founder David Gold, after discussions with the New York Stock Exchange about independence requirements.