KEY POINTS:
US investors saw their stock portfolios scorched today as oil prices rallied amid heightened tensions between Turkey's government and Kurdish rebels located in northern Iraq.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped a hefty 71.29 points (0.51 per cent) to a preliminary close of 13,913.51.
The Nasdaq composite slid 16.14 points (0.58 per cent) to 2,763.91 as trading finished for the day while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.07 points (0.65 per cent) to 1,538.64.
Stocks took a beating as New York oil prices closed above $87 for the first time after striking a record $88.20 in earlier trading. Oil values have soared due to fears that a conflict could break out across Turkey's border with Iraq.
Remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke late yesterday that the US economic outlook remains murky also triggered fresh unease on Wall Street as major corporations continued to release their latest quarterly earnings reports.