Wall Street plunged today as investors found themselves between a proverbial rock and a hard place. The rock is an end to interest rate cutsby the Fed and the hard place is a slowing economy that is teetering on the border of a full blown recession. As if it’s any suprise, that after the last week’s events in regards to the prices of both oil and gold heading near record highs, that the US stock market would be due for significant losses as seen in todays trading session. The cause and effect has seen many investors pulling out of the US markets and selling off positions in an overall flurry that has the Dow Jones down by over 300 points or 2% overall. The losses rapidly cut any gains made in Wednesday’s rally which saw the Dow up 137 points over the previous close.

The Fed, which cut interest rates a quarter point, said in a statement that inflation remained a concern, and oil’s rise to yet another record high raised the possibility not only that the Fed might stop slashing rates, but that it might even consider raising them if inflation rates accelerate.

“Wall Street is in love with the idea of a rate cut, and realized that the Fed said inflation is still a concern that lowered the chances of a cut in December,” said Ryan Detrick, a senior technical strategist with Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “We’re now feeling the pain now that investors have slept on it, and figured out what they said.”

Today oil has reached yet another high of $96 per barrel and consumers can expect the price increases to hit them at the gas pump in the near future. Quite possibly consumers could be seeing the predicted $4 per gallon prices sooner than was anticipated. Rising oil prices are led by world concerns of political conditions in the Middle East and by China’s rising dependency on oil.

Chief Investment Officer at RegentAtlantic Capital, Christopher Cordaro, stated “Wall Street remains anxious about the possibility of recession.” He also believes the market is barren of enough positive news “to have any type of sustained rally.”