So the way it's been going lately is that one day either the Russians or the Saudis say they're going to consider cutting oil production.  And it's a good day.  The next day one of them says they don't think so after all.  And it's a bad day.  Today was another bad day when the Saudi Oil Minister ruled out production cuts anytime soon, sending crude down more than 4 percent and the Dow crashing nearly 200 points.  One day investors are willing the shrug it all off and pay attention to more positive macro indicators instead.  On other days, there is this worry that maybe what's happening with oil is about to happen to the whole world.  Today was one of those days.  JP Morgan didn't help matters at all when they projected $500 million in losses on energy loans.  Volume was 7.1 billion, close to usual averages but below the 9 billion recent elevated averages brought on by the wild swings of the past month.

Markets | Tue Feb 23, 2016 4:26pm EST

Wall St. stumbles as oil slumps again

BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF

DJ:  16,431.78  -188.88      NAS:  4,503.58  -67.02         S&P:  1,921.27  -24.23 2/23

REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID

Wall Street stocks slid on Tuesday, hurt by pressure from a renewed drop in oil prices, undercutting momentum that had helped the market rebound from a sluggish start to the year.  The major U.S. indexes closed down more than 1 percent. Crude prices CLc1 LCOc1 settled down more than 4 percent as Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi effectively ruled out production cuts anytime soon.

Equity markets this year have been tightly linked to the daily fluctuations of battered oil prices. Energy shares .SPNY tumbled 3.2 percent on Tuesday, leading declines among S&P sectors.

"The markets are really worried that we are missing something here, that the global slowdown may be more significant than we are recognizing and that slowdown could be causing oil prices to drop, and commodities prices in general," said Tracie McMillion, head of asset allocation at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 188.88 points, or 1.14 percent, to 16,431.78, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 24.23 points, or 1.25 percent, to 1,921.27 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC dropped 67.02 points, or 1.47 percent, to 4,503.58.

In a sign of the spreading toll from low oil prices, JP Morgan (JPM.N), the largest U.S. bank by assets, will increase provisions for expected losses on energy loans by $500 million, or more than 60 percent of its existing reserves. Its shares dropped 4.2 percent.

Financial shares .SPSY, the worst performing group this year, fell another 1.8 percent on Tuesday. Nine of the 10 S&P sectors finished negative.

After posting its strongest week of the year last week, the S&P 500 had climbed another 1.5 percent on Monday. It remains down 6 percent this year.

"Having the market take a little bit of profit wasn’t a surprise to us," said John Traynor, chief investment officer of People’s United Wealth Management in Bridgeport, Connecticut. "We think this is just a small setback in an ongoing recovery. We have been telling clients that we are in a bottoming process."

Fitbit (FIT.N) plummeted 20.8 percent to $13.08 after the wearable fitness device maker forecast profit below estimates.

Western Digital (WDC.O) dropped 7.2 percent to $42.77 after it cut the price of its planned acquisition of rival U.S. hard-disk maker SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O) by more than $3 billion after losing a big investment from China's Unisplendour Corp Ltd (000938.SZ). SanDisk fell 1.6 percent.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,075 to 991, for a 2.09-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,924 issues fell and 858 advanced for a 2.24-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 52 new lows.

About 7.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 9 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.