Stocks fell and oil prices surged on Wednesday as Hurricane Rita headed toward the already-damaged Gulf Coast as a Category 5 storm, the highest possible, with winds hitting 165 miles per hour.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 103.49 points, or nearly 1 percent, to 10,378.03, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,106.64 and the S & P; 500 Index fell 0.9 percent to 1,210.20.

Lower production in the Gulf has already caused commodity prices to soar and OPEC to raise its output levels. On Wednesday, with Rita threatening oil production again in the Gulf of Mexico, oil future rose 60 cents a barrel to $66.80 a barrel in New York for November deliveries of light, sweet crude.

Profit warnings also hit the shares of New York Times Co., which fell $2.13 to $30 a share, and American International Group, down $1.11 a share to $59.40. Avon Products Inc. fell $3.60 to $27.

With oil prices surging, L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares rose $1.35, or 1.6 percent, to $88.38.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group, which figures to get a share of rebuilding efforts in the gulf, saw its shares rise $1.09, or 1.8 percent, to $62.44.

L.A.-based homebuilder KB Home shares rose as high as $72.75 on a ratings upgrade by JP Morgan before settling at $70.72, down 3 cents.

Daily Journal Corp. shares rose $2.83 to $42.70; there was no apparent news that affected the company’s shares.