US mkts slip after oil hits new high; Dow down 394 pts

Soaring crude prices proved to be Wall Street's major undoing. The US markets tumbled, sparking the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst sell-off in 15 months, after a jump in the unemployment rate and rise in crude heightened concern the economy will sink into a recession.

US stocks more than wiped out weekly gains, with the Dow chalking up the eight-largest point drop in the index's history.

Nymex Crude Futures has closed at USD 138.54 a barrel, a jump of USD 10.75 per barrel, which was the biggest gain in a day in the Nymex history, after hitting a high of USD 139.12 a barrel during the day. Oil risen after Morgan Stanley forecasted that crude may hit USD 150 a barrel in the beginning of July.

Labour department of US has announced employment data, May jobless rate went up 5.5% from 5% in April, which was biggest jump in 22 years, i.e. since 1986. May payrolls reduced by 49,000, which was fifth straight month of job cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 394.64 points, or 3.13%, to 12,209.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 43.37 points, or 3.09%, to 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq composite index slipped 75.38 points, or 2.96%, to 2,474.56.

A look at how the Indian ADRs performed: