Crude oil plunges, but Dow falls 42

Crude drags energy stocks lower, as investors see Tropical Storm Edouard causing few problems for rigs and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. Metals stocks tumble; healthcare shares rally. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged on Tuesday. The price of crude oil took a big dive today, mostly because traders concluded that Tropical Storm Edouard would cause few problems for the oil and gas platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. But it wasn't enough to keep the stock market from finishing slightly lower on the day. The Dow Jones industrials finished down 42 points, 0.4%, to 11,284. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11 points, 0.9%, to 1,249, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 25 points, 1.1%, to 2,286. "A market that can't rally on bullish news is a bear market," Tim Evans, an energy analyst for Citi Futures... [read full story]