Stocks Drop More Than 1%, Erasing Prior Gains

U.S. equities were down more than 1% today, erasing Tuesday’s gains.

TheDow Jones Industrial Averagewas down 1.3% to 12,420, while theS&P 500 shed 1.3% to 1,313 and the Nasdaqtumbled 1.2% to 2,837.

Once again Europe weighedheavily on investors’ minds, even as officials announced a ‘banking union’ to deal with troubled banks.

Oil took a hittoday, trading down 3.2% and bringing down E&P and services companies down with it. Exxon (XOM) and Chervron (CVX) were both down about 2.6%, the third and fourth biggest losers in the Dow. Bank of America (BAC) and Alcoa (AA) took the top two spots,� down more than 3% each, while Caterpillar (CAT) was close behind, down around 2.5%, erasing much of yesterday’s gains.