PERFORMANCE

American stocks fell as oil prices climbed above $51 a barrel, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to their steepest losses since August. The Dow average fell 174.02 points, or 1.6 %,to 10,611.20,the largest retreat since August 5. The S&P 500 dropped 17.43, or 1.5% to 1184.16, its worst performance since Aug. 6. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 28.30, or 1.4%, to 2030.32.

Five stocks were down for every one that was up on the New York Stock Exchange. Some 1.7 billion shares changed hands on the Big Board, making it the busiest trading day this year.

Crude oil for March delivery jumped 5.8% to $51.15 a barrel in New York, the highest closing price since October 29 and biggest one-day gain since June 1. Colder-than-normal weather in the America and Europe raised demand for furnace fuels.

– Bloomberg News

TESTIMONY

A former WorldCom Inc. employee told jurors she delivered documents to the personal assistant of ex-CEO Bernard Ebbers, on trial for securities fraud, that showed artificially inflated revenue results. WorldCom created two monthly revenue reports in 2001 and 2002, one that was accurate and another that was fraudulent, former accounting manager Lisa Taranto testified today in New York federal court. Ms. Taranto said that she or another employee delivered both documents to Ebbers’s office each month.

“It was printed on special paper,” she said of the reports, which were hand-delivered to Ebbers’s assistant, Deborah Blackwell, on green-lined computer paper. Previous witnesses testified that Mr. Ebbers asked for the special paper because it was easier for him to read.

The testimony bolsters the government’s case that Mr. Ebbers knew of false accounting at the long distance company, which collapsed in 2002 fol lowing an $11 billion fraud. Other witnesses have testified that WorldCom maintained two sets of revenue reports and said Mr. Ebbers saw them.

– Bloomberg News

SKEPTICAL

U.S. consumers, upbeat about their present circumstances, are more skeptical about what the next six months will bring, a private report showed today. The Conference Board’s sentiment index fell to 104 this month from a six-month high of 105.1 in January that was greater than initially reported, the New York-based research group said today. Americans were the most optimistic about their current conditions than at any time since September 2001, and the fewest number in almost three years described jobs as hard to get.

Consumers were less optimistic going forward, with fewer expecting an improvement in employment and incomes.

– Bloomberg News