U.S. stocks and bonds fell again on Wednesday as oil prices grazed record peaks and investors worried about the risks of higher inflation, wider deficits and more aggressive interest rate hikes.
Safe-haven gold rose to a new high for the year in New York as the dollar fell, just as it did on Tuesday.
Shares of rate-sensitive stocks like financials and home builders slipped. Citigroup Inc. fell 1.2 percent to $47.88 and Bank of America Corp. slipped 1.2 percent to $45.70.
KB Home fell 3.4 percent to $116.74 and Pulte Homes Inc. dropped 2.5 percent to $75.45.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 107 points, or 1 percent, to 10,805.62.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 12.42 points, or 1.02 percent, at 1,207.01.
The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 12.26 points, or 0.59 percent, to 2,061.29.
U.S. crude oil prices came within pennies of their record peak before slipping back, as worries over demand growth overshadowed rising stockpile levels in the United States.
Cold weather in the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil market, also helped support red-hot prices, which have surged more than 25 percent since the start of the year.
U.S. light crude for prompt-month April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 18 cents at $54.77 a barrel after climbing as high as $55.65, just 2 cents below the last autumn's all-time peak.
London's Brent crude rose 54 cents to $53.38 on the International Petroleum Exchange after hitting a new record of $54.30 a barrel.
Prices rose despite U.S. Energy Information Administration data showing crude oil stocks rose 3.2 million barrels last week to 302.6 million barrels -- the fourth straight weekly rise and the biggest stockpile in eight months.
Overseas, the FTSEurofirst pan-European 300 index ended 0.59 percent weaker at 1,094.1 points. Tokyo's Nikkei ended at the day's high of 11,966.69, up 79.78 points, its highest finish since last April.