12:30 pm : Oil prices are flirting with the $100 mark, which hasn't been seen since 2008. At the moment, oil prices are up 4.3% to $99.50 per barrel.

Oil's spike to session highs has induced additional selling, which took stocks down to session lows. The S&P 500 found support at the 1302 line, so it has reclaimed a couple of points. It is now down 40 points from the multi-year high athat it set last week. DJ30 -94.94 NASDAQ -43.48 SP500 -11.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 618/1.11 bln/1918 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 959/521 mln/1981

12:00 pm : Sellers have increased their efforts in the past 30 minutes. Their efforts have taken each of the major equity averages to their lowest levels of the day. Still, in the face of mounting pressure, the energy sector continues to sport a gain in excess of 2%. That's mostly due to the fact that oil prices have extended their advance so that they are now up 3.2% to $98.45 per barrel, which makes for oil's highest level since October 2008.

Declining issues outnumber advancers by 3-to-1 in the broader market, but volatility hasn't increased dramatically. The Volatility Index was up as much as 30% during the prior session's sell-off, but today it is up a much less dramatic 3%. DJ30 -64.82 NASDAQ -31.50 SP500 -7.53 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 804/920 mln/1690 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1141/430 mln/1747

11:30 am : Stocks remain stuck in negative territory amid choppy trade.

However, Chesapeake Energy (CHK 33.72, +1.71) has been a standout. The stock is up about 5% following a better-than-expected earnings report for the latest quarter. A spike in oil prices above $97 per barrel has also helped.

11:56AM UPS notches new session low of 73.16 probing its 50 sma/ema zone at 73.29.73.16 (UPS) 73.19 -1.42 :  

11:51AM SPDR Homebuilders testing its Feb low (XHB) 17.50 -0.40 : Saw a bounce near its 50 sma off the open but it has been marching steadily lower for the last two hours as it got no mileage out of the slightly better housing data which has brought its Feb reaction low into play at 17.47 (session low 17.45) -- LEN, MDC, MTH, PHM, SPF, TOL, DHI, RYL, KBH.

11:42AM RRSAT Global is providing uplink, playout and connectivity services for fashiontv H3, the 3D programming on the Fashion TV Paris High Definition channel (RRST) 7.19 -0.11 :