Oil Drags Markets Down With It

Claman on Call: FBN’s Liz Claman with an after-hours web exclusive on the markets, the Dow Chemical-DuPont merger and UPS stock.

The three main indexes posted their steepest one-day decline since September 28. The Dow lost 310 points, dragging the index down 3.3% for the week. The S&P 500 fell almost 40 points, suffering its biggest weekly decline since August. And the Nasdaq ended the session 111 points lower.

The red on the screen is causing "turn-tail," "run for your lives to Treasuries" fear. The Vix, or so-called fear index, hit a 10-week high, skyrocketing 27%.

Oil was a culprit, settling below $36, down more than 4% and down 10.9% for the week. It was the biggest weekly drop for oil in a year.

Maybe it was wedding jitters that torched DuPont (NYSE:DFT)! The chemical giant accounted for almost 10% of the index's decline. This after DuPont and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) went public with their chemical romance worth $130 billion. When news of the merger initially broke, both stocks jumped, but they sold off throughout the day as the deal left investors scratching their heads as to whether regulators could possibly approve this mega-merger.

UPS (NYSE:UPS) is about to become an unlikely Grinch this holiday season. The delivery company is struggling to handle a surge in online sales that has resulted in more holiday volume than expected. On-time delivery rates for UPS ground packages fell to 91%; during the same time last year, the on-time rate was 97%. The stock fell almost 3% today.